


Love for Love

by Akzeal, Xobit



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Retelling, Sticky Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-17
Updated: 2013-03-28
Packaged: 2017-12-05 15:07:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 47,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/724677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akzeal/pseuds/Akzeal, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xobit/pseuds/Xobit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary: When a tired Cosmos stops on an uninhabited planet and brings back just two corax plants as a gift, he could never have imagined the rage he stirred. And now Earth will pay the price...</p>
<p>I played Mirage, Xobit played Unicron and Cosmos and Cyclonus. ... I may have worked her too hard... Sorry, Xobit!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Cosmos, Mirage knew, was finally back from his journey. He was on the Ark, even, an uncommon occurrence, and he seemed to be well enough. Still, Mirage was careful as he went to Cosmos' room. Very few people were aware of their friendship, and that was just fine with both of them. "Cosmos? Are you in there?" He had heard rumors that the space-ship had been in the med-bay, and he had worried...

"I'm here... oh! Hey, Mirage, it's good to see you." Cosmos smiled, behind his mask of course, but you could still see it from the lightening of his optics. Mirage was one of the reasons he liked coming home, the former noble was such a sweetspark and he was very well educated... a pleasure to talk with. 

He returned the smile, ducking inside and finding a seat. "It's good to see you, too! You had a long trip this time... Did you see anything interesting, or would you rather learn what gossip you've missed out on first?" Cosmos was not, really, an attractive mech, but that wasn't what their friendship was based on. Mirage knew the rumors about himself, of course, but he never paid them mind. The best way to prove them wrong was to live as though he didn't realize they existed, after all.

"How about we just talk and let things come at their own pace?" Mirage was so... well, edgy, every time Cosmos came back from a mission. It was adorable, reminded the minibot of a sparkling. He was glad that he had gotten the idea of bringing gifts back that orn long ago. He knew that they weren't valuable, or anything much really, but they seemed to mean a lot to the former noble and that was all he needed as a reason to continue. This time, though, he would drag it out, for once he had brought back something very special! Something that would hopefully remind Mirage positively of his old home on Cybertron.

Mirage laughed a little, and nodded. "Yes. I'm getting overeager again, aren't I?" He did that, he knew... but he liked hearing Cosmos' stories, and he liked the gifts almost as much. Mirage even tried to return them, giving the spacecraft things to entertain him on his journeys, or things that would make him feel less alone. He would record stories for Cosmos, or convince others to tape their well-wishes... If he didn't, Mirage just felt like he was using the smaller mech, and he didn't want that at all.

"Just a tad, but it's cute really, so don't worry... how about you start with a story and I'll tell you about this adorable little planet I visited?" Cosmos smiled teasingly, letting his friend know he would have to wait for his gift without saying anything about it.

Oh, that was no fair! Then again, Mirage could admit he had sort of asked for it. "Let's see... Oh! How's this? Something none of us expected... Wheeljack's found someone! You'll never guess who, either..." He paused a moment, smiled as he waited for Cosmos to get ever-so-slightly impatient. "Tracks! None of us are quite sure how it happened... We went out to a battle and, practically the next day, they were inseparable!"

"Tracks? You have got to be kidding... I wonder how did Wheeljack manage that feat?" Cosmos was shocked but not unhappy, it was nice when his fellow Autobots found happiness with each other. His rhetorical question hung between them for a moment, then he shook his helmet and laughed ruefully.

"Well I am happy for them... yes, I visited this little planet..." He launched into an explanation about a small planet he had been to, and they bantered back and forth for a while after. Finally, though, he smiled and brought out two small boxes.

"I looked for a gift everywhere, but I really thought I would be unsuccessful for the first time in vorns when I came to a dead planet. It just hung there in space, not near a sun or the remains of one, dead and asteroid pitted. It was kind of scary actually..." Cosmos handed the boxes over. 

"You know I don't insist on them, Cosmos! I love your stories more...!" Mirage took the gifts eagerly, though, and wasted little time in opening them. "Tell me about this planet...? How did you find it? What did you do in- oh!" Any thoughts Mirage had had went flying away as he looked at the crystals laying in each box. "Corax? I haven't..." They weren't that large, really, a red one and a white one, but both were healthy still... "Oh! I need to put these someplace... How did you find them, how long ago?" Mirage was looking around, momentarily forgetting this wasn't his owe room.

"I know, but I like giving them to you." Cosmos was fairly sure Mirage didn't hear a word of that, but it didn't matter much.

"They are healthy, I've only just put them into the boxes. I was going to hunt you down, but then you came here instead." Cosmos smiled, that was certainly a positive reaction if he had ever seen on! He turned around and took the little 'habitat' he had kept in subspace for the crystals and offered it to the former noble.

"It's crude, but it will work until you can make something prettier."

Mirage paused, then took the habitat and laughed, realizing how silly he had let himself act. "That will do beautifully! Thank you, Cosmos, you've planned everything perfectly!" He placed the crystals carefully into their new home, fussing until he had them exactly right, and then looked at Cosmos again. A moment later he had put the habitat down and flung his arms around the smaller mech, hugging him tightly. "They're beautiful. Thank you...! But now you _must_ tell me how you found them, I want every detail!" He had had gardens once... and how many times had he gone to the grand gardens of his friends, or the conservatory...? All gone now, of course, or fallen into neglect.

Cosmos was a little surprised at the hug. Mirage wasn't one for a lot of touch. He accepted it though, and laughed at the demand. There wasn't a whole lot to tell though...

"Well, as I said it was a dead planet, dead in space, I landed on it and explored a bit. I came across a cave and... I don't know how but it was filled with crystals, it even looked tended to, how ever insane that notion is. In the center of it were the biggest clusters of corax I have ever seen or heard about, one red and one white. I took a seedling from each, I was very careful, the last thing I wanted was to ruin them somehow." Lost in his memory files, Cosmos barely noticed how awed his voice was, how thoughtful.

"I looked around to see if I could find someone... but there was no one there. I really don't understand how that garden could have come to be."

"Ohh..." Mirage could, he thought, just imagine it... The corax had to be healthy, or the seedlings would have sickened on the way, and they were as hale as any specimens Mirage had ever seen. "Are... Are you sure there was no-one? Maybe- maybe you were being avoided...? But no, not if it orbited nothing..." He looked at his new crystals, touching the outside of their home lightly as he studied them, but the seedlings solved no mysteries. They were corax, they were healthy, and there seemed to be nothing unusual about them. "But then how... Energon, then, I suppose. But that doesn't answer how they came by care..."

"I know! I wished I had had the time to really stake out the place... but yeah, as you said I have been gone long. I couldn't even leave a monitor device behind." Which had really galled him, he would have loved to solve the puzzle.

"But then again, the planet was completely stationary, I can go back one day and see... you know, one of the other odd things was that there was... something like river beds all over that garden, and traces of energon fumes, but no flowing energon at all."

"Was it... near anything? I mean, relatively. Could it have been... but no, the corax would have shattered if the planet had been somehow blasted away from its sun recently..." A garden with flowing energon... how decadent! Mirage himself had never been of sufficient status to obtain an invitation to the one garden, very private, that was said to have been sustained in part by free-flowing energon. To have that, all over... "Was it large? The garden, not the planet, I mean. Solid planets don't come in that many sizes!" Mirage smiled a little.

"Relatively it was near a lot of things, but no planets with sentient life capable of getting there." Cosmos shrugged and smiled quirkily. Mirage was asking all the questions he had asked himself, wondered at and about.

"It was large, yes, easily the size of Praxus garden times ten. I didn't see all of it, it was an enormous cavern and it might have had entrances to other caverns, I really don't know." He was sad he couldn't tell Mirage more but there really was nothing to tell.

"Ooh...!" Mirage felt faint, contemplating a garden so large, so lush... Would it die, soon, wither from lack of energy, from lack of care? No, surely... He couldn't bear to think of that, and so decided that it would not happen. Whatever had kept the garden alive until now, surely it would continue to do so. And Cosmos would be able to go back... "I am almost jealous of you, you know. I can only hear your stories about it... Ah, but I suppose you would rather stay close to your friends, if you had the choice." Still... Mirage couldn't help but feel that even a long and lonely voyage in the wastes of space would be worth it to spend some time in that gorgeous garden, as far past its prime as it must be.

"It's a balance, I wish there were more space capable mechs so that I could have company out there. But on the other hand I really don't want to give up space, not even for more time here." Cosmos shrugged and then 'chased' Mirage out. They had been talking for almost a joor, and he needed rest while Mirage needed to find a place for his miniature garden. 

Mirage laughed and let himself be kicked out. He really had taken enough of Cosmos' time! By a force of will, he turned his mind away from the mystery of the garden, and towards the more prosaic mystery of what to do with his new little transplants.

At first they were easy enough to deal with, kept safe in the enclosure Cosmos had made, taken out into the sun, or sometimes Mirage would pour a portion of his ration carefully around them. They seemed to take to his care quite well, much to the former noble's delight, but soon he had a new problem. They outgrew the first habitat, and then the second, and by the time they wanted a fourth, Mirage was looking for a place to permanently put them. It was Spike who solved that problem. The Ark had crashed into a volcano, of course, and the empty throat opened to the sun. Quite enough light reached the bottom to please his corax, and as for the seedlings the original had formed, well, they could simply place them higher and higher. Like the old Floating Gardens Vos had been rumored to have...

Mirage, still stunned at how fast his 'small present' was growing, approached Optimus, and secured permission to use the volcano's throat as suggested. Perceptor agreed to help, planning to settle mirrors later, if needed, and Mirage set to transferring the crystals, planning the layout as meticulously as he knew how.

Deep in space, in a primarily 'dead' region, a being recharged, its chassis so big few could really understand it, its existence a bane and a blessing both. It was wrong to say that it was deep in recharge though; it was waking up slowly, being dragged out from the recesses of deep recharge so slowly it took it orns to finally online. But finally, finally, Unicron roused... faint hunger stirring, ethereal pain resurfacing, along with the knowledge that someone had stolen from him. If space had allowed sound to travel, suns would have trembled under Unicron's angry roar.

It was not the first time someone had been bold enough to rob him, but few had dared enter his gardens, fewer still had dared touch... only one before had dared take! Unicron called his herald to him, setting the cold mech on the thief's trail with orders to bring him back for punishment... and to bring back his precious corax.


	2. Chapter 2

On Earth, Mirage was unaware of rage caused by the beautiful crystals which grew so happily. They were finally slowing down their growth, the originals at least, and they were still as healthy as ever. Mirage was pleased that he could share this one facet of his old life with others, and he never considered forbidding entrance to anyone. Well... he _did_ consider not allowing the dinobots in, but he knew that would never work, and so brought them in one at a time until they had learned to be careful.

He didn't let any of the corax leave the volcano, and that was with Optimus and Perceptor's agreement. They didn't want their allies' home to be overrun by crystals, no matter how gorgeous they were, and so it was best to control them, at least until they could be sure they wouldn't get out of hand! Mirage, as he had taken to doing, sat on the ground, back to the stone, between the two original clusters, drinking energon and watching the sun move, half an optic on the mech looking at the newest spout.

Cyclonus was old, not as old as Unicron but old enough to remember the birth of the Cybertronians. He had bargained for immortality with beings that were now gone, and he had gotten it, just not quite as he had imagined it. His spark was frozen; in stasis... he could not feel anything and had been close to eternal coma when Unicron found him. The massive being had given him a purpose in his 'life', something to hold on to until someone unfroze his spark.

Normally he hunted for planets that met Unicron's requirements, but now he hunted for a thief. It wasn't the first time someone had foolishly robbed his savior and master, not the first time he had hunted one down and brought whoever it was to meet his or her fate. This one surprised him though, sitting bold as you please in the middle of the stolen treasure. Cold golden optics observed the mech, a lithe little thing, with no feelings what so ever as to what he was about to do to him.

The mech was... odd, Mirage slowly realized. Bulky, he seemed large for an Autobot. Mirage couldn't see any faction markings on him, but he could hardly see the entire mech, so that didn't mean much. He looked away, poured a small amount of his cube by both the corax-clusters, and then finished the rest himself. He should be going, he did have duties to do... Mirage looked about for the strange mech. He should tell Jazz or Red Alert about the mech, most likely... It was a pity to 'keep' the garden to themselves, but they couldn't trust strangers escorted so near their base. The mech was still there, and between Mirage and the door... Mirage stood, suddenly uncomfortable. "Excuse me. I'm afraid you can't... be here..." The mech had the coldest optics Mirage had ever seen, and in a completely unnatural gold...

"This garden belongs to you?" The question was sharp, Cyclonus simply needed to confirm that this was the mech who had stolen from Unicron. He couldn't imagine how the mech had mange that, he was obviously not space worthy! Then again, imagining that wasn't part of his job, he simply needed to confirm and then take the mech... then he would have to direct his master at this place, he could not take the crystal with him at this point in time. His master wouldn't be happy, destroying another planet with life on it. Dispassionately Cyclonus considered if the mech before him had known that he would condemn this world by taking the corax seedlings.

"Er... Well, no. I mean, not really, I wouldn't feel right claiming ownership of it, but, ah... I suppose you could say that the two parent plants, er, were mine..." Still were, technically, and it was certainly his job to tend them! "I care for the garden, when I'm not working..." And he had begun babbling, as he tended to do about gardens, not that many knew. "Still, I really... you can't be here- oh! Are you from that dead planet?" He had known it couldn't be that dead, and that would neatly explain the mech's odd optics. Maybe even his annoyance...? Because he certainly did seem annoyed about something...

"That is what I needed to know." Cyclonus stated and then grabbed the smaller mech, pressing his exposed neck cables hard until he offlined. The struggling didn't faze him one bit, he was used to his prey being hard to catch and this... this was laughable, if he had been able to feel mirth.

"Struggling is useless, you will be served justice and my master will reclaim his property."

"What? Let go- ooh..." Mirage could make no struggle, no real fight, and he fell offline before he was able to do more than panic.

He woke still in a panic, but utterly alone, and someplace nothing like Earth or the Ark. Mirage bolted upright, looking around and waiting for... something. It didn't come, however, and slowly he relaxed, at least enough to think. There was light, seeming to come from the walls, the floor... There were no windows, but there was something he thought might be a door. He swung off the plinth that had served as his berth, still fearing attack, and made his way to the door. It opened, and Mirage paused, honestly surprised. It seemed very easy... Now if only he knew where he was!

The moment Cyclonus had returned, Unicron was aware that he had brought back the wrong mech, it did not matter too much though. Hopefully the 'right' one would be on the world where his corax was, and punishment would be dealt as he reclaimed his treasure. In the mean time, he could save one being from the doomed world, if the mech let him....

The little thing stirred and moved from the room he had been placed in, into a corridor. Unicron's attention narrowed down, to watch the mech explore nervously. How did you welcome a kidnapped mech? How did you treat a guest for that matter, he couldn't remember ever having had one before.

"Welcome to my home... I fear that you have been mistaken for someone else." That would have to do for now!

Mirage squeaked and jumped away from the wall he had been examining. The wall which had just spoken to him... "Mistaken for someone else? Well that doesn't tell me a lot, now does it? ...You're not the mech who brought me here..." The voice was wrong. And the mech who had, as near as Mirage could tell, brought him here had... well, hadn't talked from walls. Maybe that was just because he hadn't had the right kind of walls to talk from.

"I am Unicron. Cyclonus, the mech that brought you here, is my... herald and scout. I was robbed by a mech, someone who took seedlings from my gardens. You admitted to owning said seedlings?" Unicron would dearly like the explanation to that. Actually he wanted to hear the mech speak again, it was odd to hear a voice here that wasn't his own or Cyclonus' flat emotionless monotone.

"Unicron?" Mirage repeated the unfamiliar name curiously. And Cyclonus... He didn't think he liked Cyclonus very much. Then again, he suspected that he didn't really like Unicron, either. "I'm Mirage... and they're not seedlings anymore. They've dropped more than a few seedlings of their own, even a lovely pink hybrid! Ha, I knew the planet couldn't have been as dead as Cosmos said... He would never have taken anything without permission, only, you see, he found this garden, on a planet that seemed dead. He saw no-one, and... he must have guessed I've not seen corax since Cybertron fell. He's been bringing me gifts, you see... and he said he took care not to harm anything. But... If they're your gardens, then yes, restitution is in order... If you let me, I can bring back most of the new seedlings... and the hybrid?" Mirage would be unhappy to let that one go, but as it seemed Cosmos had unwittingly stolen the parents...

"The corax belong to me!" Unicron was oddly not angry as such any more, the theft had not been done with malice in mind, but... rules were rules...

"It was entrusted to me, I cannot allow the theft to go unpunished or the corax to run wild. Such is the rules... returning seedlings will not change this and I am on my way to retrieve all of it now." Almost true, he just had to refuel first, however much he would have liked not to have to.

"But you'll kill it!" Mirage exclaimed, pouting at the wall. He did _not_ , he decided, like Unicron. The mech was far too self-absorbed. "It's all grown, and deep. Even with everyone helping, the shock alone will kill the poor things! And they are most certainly not running wild. As Hound told Spike, we're not about to destroy the ecosystem like that!" Nodding to give his words more weight, Mirage turned and began walking down the hallway again. Maybe, if he _were_ on the planet... well, he could at least look for the garden, while he was here!

The small mech was bewildering, he had not shown any fear at the mention of his name and now he was arguing with him? Unicron was unsure what to do with this, the mech and the situation both. In the end he resorted to activating his Avatar, maybe speaking faceplate to faceplate with the mech would help... at the very least he might be able to have a conversation with him. That was what you did with company, right?

It was always strange to walk around in the confinement of the avatar shell, he felt small and weak, though the last was a mere illusion. He knew where in his chassis the small mech was bumbling about, and set out to find him.

This place was confusing, and twisting, and Mirage was aware that he was hopelessly lost, and focusing all his anger towards being kidnapped into the thought of Unicron 'retrieving' the corax. And he was not finding the garden! Mirage turned a corner, came upon yet more of the same, and growled, kicking the wall in annoyance. It was terrible undignified, but who was going to see him? Cyclonus seemed to be no-where around, and right now the white and blue mech didn't even care if Unicron _did_ see him.

"I don't think you will be able to flee me even if you should manage to find an access to my surface." Unicron stepped into the corridor, taking in the mech now that he was, somewhat, down to his scale. He was still small, this Mirage, still incredibly delicate.

Mirage whirled around, looking at the mech with wide optics. He was very... yellow. Bronze, rather, or copper. Brass? Mirage wasn't really that good with metals, and he could tell it was all just a veneer of paint over perfectly ordinary armor, just like every other mech. "Oh! And what do you mean, 'your' surface? It's a planet, even if you _have_ been the only thing here. Which you haven't, you told me yourself! And I'm hardly trying to flee you." Mirage wasn't, quiet, sure enough of himself to turn away, though... not now that the mech was speaking to him in person. How could he trust the mech who had apparently been the one to have him kidnapped, after all?

"My surface... this is merely an avatar, you are traversing my real chassis now." Unicron knew he looked incredulous; the mech couldn't possibly not know about him! Even if the indication of him not knowing his name seemed to point to that... it was just impossible, was it not?

He looked, for a long moment, and then decided that this mech had gone quite off his head. Not that a planet-sized mech was impossible- not by any of the stories Mirage knew, at least. But... it was far easier to believe that Unicron had lost what sanity he ever had under the stress of being one of... apparently only two mechs living on this whole planet. "Alright then. You'll at least know where the gardens are, and as I'm here, I should like to see them! And- have you any fuel?" He smiled a little, far less angry than he had been a moment ago.

"How can you not know who I am?" The question was voiced in a perplexed tone, Unicron was simply too curious not to ask. How long had he recharged this time? He knew that apathy and guilt had made him recharge for longer and longer periods of time but... this was unexpected! It was very obvious that Mirage did not believe him, an unprecedented thing. No one called Unicron a liar, no one defied Unicron, the eater of worlds.

Yes, he certainly had gone off. Unicron was clearly used to the poor company of this dead world... well, and maybe Cyclonus was too! That didn't absolve them of his kidnapping, but Mirage was a great deal more inclined to... overlook it, for the time being. His response was very patient, and as calm as Mirage could make it. "We have never met, and your world is quite dead. There is no reason I should know you. We are strangers, Unicron, and that means we do not know each other. However, as I am apparently staying for a while, we can learn to be friends, perhaps, and then I _will_ know who you are."

"How long have I been recharging..." The question was rhetorical; he left his avatar shell behind to find out how many eons he had been in his deep slumber. The number left him reeling and well aware of why his tanks were so empty... almost ten eons? No wonder the universe had forgotten him, in that span of time he could have forgotten himself, would have if not for the little thief. If it had been something other than the corax that had been stolen, he would have been inclined to let it go...

Returning to his shell, he stretched unconsciously and opened his mouth to speak.

Mirage looked confused at the entirely odd question, and then slammed himself against the far wall with a shriek. To all appearances, the mech had just _died_...! Mirage had time to wonder, wildly, if Cyclonus would blame this on him, and then the color began to flow back into mech, and that sent Mirage shaking even worse. "What in all pit just- just _happened_?"

Unicron snapped his mouth shut and looked at the terrified mech for a moment. What could have scared him that much in here? Nothing traversed these corridors that Unicron didn't let traverse them. Currently that meant Mirage, Cyclonus, and his own avatar. "I have been recharging for ten eons, I merely went to check, not all my functions can be taken into this limited from. What has frightened you so?"

"You _died_ ," Mirage snapped, still pressed against the wall. He didn't say anything about how long Unicron said he had recharged, mostly because Mirage himself had been in stasis for more than half that long. It wasn't nearly as important, anyway, as the fact that the mech before him... "You got all greyed out and dead-looking!"

"Of course it did, I left the avatar..." Unicron didn't understand the panic, it was a simple thing for him to shift between his chassis and his avatar. At least it was when it was on or inside his chassis, he couldn't move far from his chassis in the avatar without it shutting down and sending his awareness back.

Mirage was now convinced of Unicron's insanity again, but for a different reason than before. If he had been less convince that Unicron was not 'there', he might well have slapped the mech, however silly it was. Instead, Mirage just gave the golden-bronze mech a look of complete annoyance. "You. Were. Dead. And now you are not. And if you cannot grasp what there is about that to frighten me, than you are worse off than I believed." 'Avatar', though... Mirage wondered about the word choice, but didn't feel like asking about it... There had been quite enough to upset him in one day!

"I cannot die, the avatar is simply a representation of me... if I am not in it, it will look 'dead', as you say." Mirage was a truly curious mech... maybe if he proved to him, but it was so odd to have to prove anything to such a small creature.

"Come with me and I will show you who I am." Unicron turned away and started walking down the corridor he had come from.

Had _he_ been so infuriatingly arrogant when he still counted himself a noble? But Mirage knew he had, that was the very reason he found it hard to make true friends now. Well, he could understand that! And he was following Unicron, as though he had no choice... Maybe he didn't. He didn't, really, want to be alone... and he wasn't ready to deal with Cyclonus again. So Mirage followed, and he had time to take a good look at Unicron. Or the 'avatar'... There was gray on him, which he hadn't noticed, probably because most was on the back. There was something folded there, but Mirage would venture no guess as to what. The optics, he remembered, were gold, like Cyclonus' had been... All the inhabitants of this planet must have had gold optics. His hands seemed faintly clawed, as did his feet... Unicron looked a good deal more like a Decepticon than an Autobot, though Mirage could not imagine a Decepticon in such bright brass colors. Not even a Seeker, and they were notoriously flashy!

"I will make sure you have fuel as soon as I have fed, I don't have anything suitable for you to refuel on till then." Unicron belatedly remembered that Mirage had asked for fuel and had to, sheepishly, admit that he only had the very dregs of his waste tanks to offer. It was really barely of a quality that he himself could use... he didn't want to imagine what it could do to such delicate systems as what had to be in the small, slim frame following him.

"It will not take long, Cyclonus has already located a suitable world for me to ingest. I will have to leave you when I begin, but I imagine that seeing it might make you understand."

None of that made more than half-sense... except, Mirage realized with a start, in the light of some very old myths he had heard... His old nurse! She had told him stories... Shaking his head to wrench his current thoughts to the here-and-now, Mirage left a corner of his processor working on just what those stories had said. "That makes absolutely no sense. Just so long as you're aware of that. ...Does that mean Cyclonus will be, er, back soon?"

"Cyclonus will lead the way to your home world so that I can reclaim the corax, as well as punish the actual thief." Unicron shrugged lightly, his sensor array unfurling and then curling back with the motion. He wasn't happy about what he had to do... destroying planets with sentient life was something he attempted to avoid.

"As for the rest, it will make sense soon enough." He was nearly at the planet Cyclonus had called him to, and they were nearly at the observation chamber. It would have to do for the small mech for now. When all was over he could have Cyclonus take the small thing out so he could transform and show him his real chassis.

"I told you, you'll kill it if you move it," Mirage grumbled. "And I'm the one he got it for, and I'm _here_..." He wanted to save Cosmos from trouble, really... He didn't like that he had no clue what kind of punishment was meant. Either way, it was fairly clear that Unicron wasn't listening to him, and the room he was brought to was nice enough. It had the first window Mirage had seen here, and he hurried to look out, half-way certain that Unicron would be 'dying' again soon. He would have to see if he could get the mech to shrug again... whatever had unfolded had been rather- and there Mirage cut his thoughts.

"But you did not steal... I will bring you energon as soon as I have fed." Unicron thoughtfully went outside of the room before leaving his avatar behind; he did not want to distress the mech again. Consideration was almost as new a thing as a conversation that did not end with 'yes, master'. Unicron had no idea why he cared what this 'Mirage' felt, wasn't even sure if he really cared or was just following old, nearly forgotten protocols.

After a few astroseconds he turned his thoughts from the small being in his observation chamber to the planet before him. It was nothing much but bare rock, metals and molten core... perfect, it would fill his tanks to near overflowing and he could make just about anything his guest wanted then. Better yet, it was completely and utterly devoid of sentient life...

Even though it left him alone- though Mirage was beginning to doubt that- he was glad that Unicron moved out of the room. He bit his derma when he saw the planet... or maybe it was a planetoid, Mirage wasn't sure, and he wasn't entirely surprised by what happened next. He could see the surface of the planet he was in from the window, see a long, curved feature jutting up from the ground... See that the two planets were approaching each other. They collided, or seemed to, but he didn't feel an impact, just slowly increasing vibrations, steady and rhythmic... Mirage turned away from the window and collapsed on one of the seats.

Devouring the planet didn't take long, the processing though took almost a joor. Unicron was sated and in a much better mood when he finally returned to his avatar and walked back into the observation room.

"I am done now, if you will come with me I can provide fuel for you... anything you want, really." Long ago the main reason for creating his avatar had been to try living, feeding and fueling, even recharging, like one of the limited beings whose lives he so often ended abruptly. It had been the beginning of his 'end'. He had learned how to blend energon, how to make sweets and treats, cakes... anything really.

Mirage did not care about fuel any more, though he still _needed_ it. "You are the Planet Eater," he informed Unicron, sounding quite reasonable. "My nurse said you came to eat up bad little mechs, and even their planets, when they were very bad." Funny, he hadn't thought he was being bad. Not even a little bad. Not as bad as the Decepticons, and _they_ weren't eaten up, so clearly the requirements for being eaten were more than just being 'bad'.

"I am Unicron... I have been called many things, Planet Eater among them." Tilting his head a little in inquiry Unicron took in the stillness of the mech before him. He looked smaller somehow, fragile in a way he hadn't quite seemed before. It was worrying.

"I do not devour sentient planets unless I have no choice, not anymore." He had once, before he learned to care, before he became truly sentient and sapient himself.

"Oh, well. That helps to know. You're a myth and a berth-time story and I'm probably the last one with a nurse old enough to remember her grand-creator's stories, but you don't eat sentient planets anymore, and never-mind how few planets can think." Mirage reached out and poked the gold-bronze form, jerking slightly as his digit came into contact with living metal. He could handle that. Better than considering he was sitting _in_ and _on_ Unicron, at least. Nope, Unicron was just the mech standing before him. Much better.

The touch was startling. Cyclonus had never touched his avatar the few times he had used it with the mech... the touch of someone moving inside him wasn't the same as this. It almost startled him so much he forgot answering.

"I meant that I do not eat world with sentient life on them, or the beginnings of it, if I can avoid it. Your friend... I have eaten my fill now; I can at least give your home world a chance of evacuation as long as the thief is given over to me."

That did _not_ mean he was going to eat Cosmos- "But they can't! They're not space-faring, and we can't build enough ships for everyon- You can't _eat_ Earth! It's not even my home- You'll kill the corax!" Mirage nodded and attempted to stalk off, uncomfortably aware, now, that doing so would not really remove him from Unicron's presence at all... Nope, he still wasn't really ready to _think_ about that.

Unicron didn't even think the action through before he had a hand around the slim blue shoulder, squeezing the armor to make Mirage stop moving.

"I need to regain the corax... you do not understand the importance of it! I have no choice, and it will not be killed when I devour it. That was how I got it in the first place, why I must now guard it and why I am..." He stopped speaking abruptly, he couldn't tell anyone about this, no more at least then he had already told. The corax was his curse and his blessing, the thing that had woken his cold spark in to warmth, passion and life.

Mirage spun about, reacting with the instincts so many forgot he had, grabbing the side of Unicron's hand and _twisting_ as he moved. By rights, Unicron should be in pain, but Mirage dropped the hand before thinking to look. "And so you will kill a whole race, just for a few- damned crystals! You- you're _worse_ than the stories my nurse told! At least in them the Planet Eater only came to bad mechs, and not because of a stupid, ignorant, _innocent_ mistake!"

Holding his hand up, Unicron wiggled his clawed digits, almost too surprised at the sensation of pain to listen to the small mech. Pain was a foreign feeling, well physical pain, at least when in his avatar.

"You do not know of what you speak." Mildly stating that fact he lowered his hand again, looking at the angry mech.

"If I had a choice I would not do this... there is no choice, if you will I can show you why."

He could see no reason at all that a simple theft, especially unintentional, could possibly warrant the destruction a world. Pit, if it were that big a deal, he would find some way to return the corax... As much as Mirage wanted to remain angry and intractable, he nodded. There was always the off-chance that Unicron had something resembling a point, after all. "I do think you had better."

"Come with me." Unicron turned and left, heading to his garden with reluctance. He did not want to see the effect the theft had had on it! He could feel it already, he didn't need to see it, but Mirage apparently did. It was as bad as he had thought and felt, large sections of the corax crystals had darkened and was in the process of crumbling to glittering dust, despite the fact that the rest of the garden was healthy and the irrigation ditches were now filled with raw energon.

"Oh... Oh my!" Mirage knelt at the edge of the destruction, blind to beauty of the garden. Part of him was very annoyed about that, because he wanted to see it, but... "But how? There's no reason for- for this!" He didn't touch the sickened corax, merely looking at it closely. He wanted to touch it, to feel what was wrong... It didn't seem safe to do that, though. No, not safe at all...

"The theft did this..." Unicron didn't show emotions, he didn't know how, but the state of his garden of the corax distressed him. He could hardly explain this, he did not fully understand himself...

"It cannot live in two places at once, the moment you got it to grow it died here. When it is all gone..." shaking his head, he stopped. He didn't know for sure, but he strongly suspected that if the corax died altogether he would turn back to the creature everyone had feared so much long ago.

Mirage shook his head, daring to lightly touch the crumbling crystals. "That does not make _sense_! It- that is the _thing_ with corax, or even the planets on earth! They don't- they don't share life, they- they make it, make more... it's not _limited_ like... this...!" Everything else made- at least enough sense. It wasn't like there was any reason a mech couldn't be as large as a planet, after all, and a mech so large would certainly have to eat things equally as large. It was shocking, but believable. Taking a pair of corax seedlings, and somehow killing the parent plants by growing it... that made no sense. None at all... "And how will- will _eating_ Earth not kill them?"

"It is limited because it... has to be." And Unicron was again silenced by his curse, he could not explain... it was as it was.

"The corax was made for me, they will survive anything that reunites them with me." But they could not be given back, only taken as they were themselves taken.

"Your world will have time, many groons will go by before I can devour another planet. Measures can be taken to save as many as can be saved... I will do that much, I refuse to take a planet when I am not in need of it, not even for this."

That still didn't make any sense, but going after it now wouldn't really help Mirage, and he was trained enough to know it. Better to deal with the threat... It wasn't right, it was just _crystal_ \- "And how are they supposed to prepare when they don't even know you're coming‽ And will you search out some place for them to go? Because no-one would want to live in _you_ even if we had the option." Mirage moved his hands from the fragile corax and balled them into fists, shaking from his helpless rage.

"If need be, Cyclonus knows of many planets that can support life, as for how they will know, I will have him announce my arrival. That is how I do it if something forces me to devour a world with sentient life forms." It had been vorns if not eons since the last time but... this was all he could do.

"You are angry? It is unproductive... there is nothing anyone can do to stop this, believe me, if they or you attempt it the result will be far worse than one planet being destroyed." It would unleash a monster, something that would not stop till the universe was destroyed.

It was no _help_! Mirage controlled himself, though. As much as he hated it, Unicron was right. Getting angry wouldn't help anything, no matter what he wanted. Right now... he needed to remain in control, no matter how he wanted to rage, to hit Unicron, to _hurt_ him... Standing, Mirage turned away from the garden, very much against Unicron even thinking that he might do more damage here, and he spoke, very brittlely, "I think you had better leave me alone now, as much as you are capable of doing so." He was bitter, too... a few breems ago, he had thought he might even be able to like Unicron.

"As you wish... I will send Cyclonus to you with fuel, simply follow the bright corridors to you room." Unicron turned to face the dying corax, sensor array unconsciously unfurling before he left his avatar and arranged for the things he had promised Mirage.


	3. Chapter 3

Cyclonus had no opinion about being used as a servant for the small mech, he understood that he had asked Unicron to stay away and that the planet mech had granted him this small favor. Carrying fuel though the corridors, the cold mech didn't even wonder why his master bent before another's will.

He stayed for a moment, looking over his shoulder until the avatar greyed... Mirage could admit that Unicron was, the avatar at least, very attractive. That meant nothing, of course, the Seekers were attractive, and Megatron himself was attractive, in his way. But it did seem somewhat... insulting, that Unicron should be so. Especially when he went and 'died' like that... Mirage shivered and walked away.

He hadn't really intended to go right back to his room, but when he started walking, it turned out that the dark corridors were... well, creepy. It was more than the blue and white mech could face, and so he didn't try. In his room, Mirage was at a loss... there was nothing for him to do, nothing really in the room at all. The 'berth' was clearly a raised section of the 'floor', the seat in the wall, and the table was the same sort of thing an indent in the wall... Everything glowed, and nothing changed. He was actually glad when his door opened and Cyclonus walked in. "...Hello."

"I have brought fuel, you did not ask for anything specific." Settling his burden, Cyclonus straightened up and turned to leave. This was not his problem, and as he felt nothing he didn't even consider saying a kind word.

Thanks got swallowed in something like desperation, and Mirage blurted, "Oh, don't go! I need- I have questions!" He still didn't like this mech, either, but at least it was a simple kind of dislike, one he could handle. It was far better than talking to Unicron right now...!

"I was instructed to provide you with anything you needed." Cyclonus stopped and turned, regarding the smaller mech with cold golden optics. He might have worried about the mech asking questions he couldn't answer, if he had been normal. As it was, he did not even spent time on imagining what the questions might be.

He shivered at finding himself once again the focus of those- unusual golden optics, and tried to remember what his questions had been. Cyclonus' regard seemed to very effectively kill Mirage's thoughts... "H- how long have you been here? Do- er, do you... know Unicron... well?" The thought of knowing Unicron 'well' might have made Mirage laugh, but again, the odd mech drained any good humor Mirage felt capable of.

"I have been in Unicon's service for megavorns, though I am unable to tell you the exact number. I know him as well as any mech can know another, our lives have been intertwined, our fates near the same." Cyclonus didn't shrug as he might have, didn't even change facial expression. He was unable to feel anything about his master's, and his own, eventual and possibly inevitable demise.

Well, Mirage thought, at least he got answers... "Then maybe you can tell me what the pit is up with- with his damn corax, and- and stuff! And can you show some fragging emotion? You look almost as dead as his avatar can!" It was just creepy, very creepy... Mirage reached for the energon, sipping cautiously at it for something to do, something else to _look_ at.

"I feel no emotions and so I cannot show them. My master was a monster once, the corax made him into something else. He saved me from offlining and I serve him because it keeps me online, there is no loyalty since I am unable to feel it. What more do you need to know?" Facts were easy, telling them was easy. Cyclonus stopped talking after his question, patiently waiting for the smaller mech to ask more or ask him to leave.

Okay, that... yeah, very creepy. Far beyond creepy, actually... Still, Mirage thought it would be better to get answers while he could, and Cyclonus at least was giving those... " _Was_ a mons- Ugh, no, I don't think I'll bother with that. Okay- Is there an actual reason that the corax is defying all known laws of growth and dying when it shouldn't? Wait- saved your life? ... that would be after he was ... not a 'monster'?"

"It was made to change Unicron." Cyclonus stated that fact and then turned silent. His own predicament was... not harder to talk about, but somehow less complicated and yet more so.

"I am cursed, the intent was for me to be lost, Unicron made me live... he has given me a chance. That was in the first vorns after the corax had done its job, yes."

"It was... made to change Unicron... _from_ a monster. By... making him eat planets with intelligent life? That seems more than a little counterproductive!" Mirage snapped. He took a drink of energon to give himself time to calm down. "Okay, and- Cursed... how? By whom...?" Cursed... Mirage did not believe in curses, but at this point he wasn't going to quibble over word choices. There was always time to do that later...

"He has avoided just that, with my help, for a very long time... this is different." Cyclonus couldn't really explain it better, he had no desire to be understood, if Mirage wanted more he would have to ask better.

"My spark is frozen." Not even dimming his optics, the herald split his chest apart and let the smaller mech see his spark... A perfect gem, coldly blue, suspended in the middle of his spark chamber.

"What do you mean by tha- ack! Hey, no, _no_ , I do _not_ need to- aah!" Indignation gave way to something like concern as Cyclonus split his chest. The latter emotion got swept away by utter horror as Mirage stared at the frozen orb. It shouldn't be there. It shouldn't be possible. None of this should be possible. And Mirage, who had dealt with far too many illogical revelations since waking up, shrieked and slipped into unconsciousness.

Dispassionately watching the unconscious mech, Cyclonus closed his chest again. That was the usual reaction, he had no idea why, but he did know that Unicron would not be very pleased that his guest was passed out on the flooring. Moving the small mech to the berth and placing fuel within reach, he took off to attend his few duties. If Mirage had more questions he could ask them at next fueling.

He woke up on the pseudo-berth again. Remembering why he had passed out, Mirage shivered as he realized how he must have gotten to the berth. It was not particularly fun to consider Cyclonus touching him... at least there was fuel close by. Mirage drank it, then looked around the bare room and sighed. "U- Unicron? I know you can hear me..." He felt as though he were being watched, though he didn't quite think he actually was. Unicron had shown no signs of being that rude...

"Of course." Unicron wouldn't pretend otherwise unless Mirage specifically asked him to 'keep away'. It was hard not to be aware of all of his chassis even if he didn't consciously keep specific parts of it under observation.

"...How long am I going to be here? I mean... how long until... we reach... Earth..." Mirage knew it would be groons before Unicron 'reclaimed' the corax, but depending on how long he was going to be here with the demented planet... To start, he really didn't want to stay in a room this barren! And he would likely need something to do that wasn't talking with the two most creepy mechs he had ever met.

"Till it is over and you have chosen a destination that Cyclonus can transport you to." He would have liked to tell the small mech that he could go home now but... Unicron huffed soundlessly, the gasses of his venting almost immediately freezing in the cold of space. Mirage would die, such were the sparks of the short lived little creatures he observed but could never be a part of. The little mech would place himself with his friends and die as they did when the planet was devoured.

"I fear it will be some groons..."

He didn't bother asking why he was being kept. Mirage didn't think he was quite ready for the answers. Instead he just nodded. Groons would give him time to truly learn what he was dealing with, and he might as well see to his own comfort while he was here... "Is- Could something be done about my room, then? It's... very bare." Deal with that, first. Then ask about the whole 'monster' thing. Then, maybe, see what that had to do with the dang corax.

"Bare?" Unicron was confused; he had never been to a place large enough to be called a room unless in his avatar form and the concept of it being 'bare' was lost on him. Cyclonus couldn't really help him with the abilities of socializing or the expectancy of any normal being.

"I am sure that something can be done to make your stay..." Um yes, make his stay what?

After a few moments of silence, Mirage gave a shaky laugh. "Tolerable. Let's just say tolerable..." Normally one would say comfortable, but Mirage didn't really want to get into that. "Bare, there's nothing in here. A... window would help. Wall decorations. Any decorations. Bookfiles or painting programs or music, something for me to do... How do you pass your time?"

"Would you prefer the observation room as your..." What did he call it, prison cell? Unicron hesitated a little, he wouldn't mind letting Mirage live there, it was as safe as anywhere else. He couldn't just create windows at random, changes to his chassis were not exactly hard to make but they were complicated, and this room was nowhere near his 'outside'. "Cyclonus can be set to get... most anything you need, if you explain to him what it is."

Mirage shrugged. "Sure, I guess. I just need a berth... er, I guess some form of table, too. And entertainment... Um. When Cyclonus... gets things. He's, er. Not stealing them, or, like... scaring people or... anything like that, is he? ...Purposely, I mean, he's kind of scary no matter what he does..." No wonder, with a spark like that... Mirage tried not to remember that.

"He bargains for it, with energon and other fuel items that I create." Unicron was insulted at the implication, his voice cold and his words short. Pulling his attention away from the small mech he changed what he could of the observation room. It only took about three breems to manipulate his internals to 'create' a berth, a table and appropriately situated chairs. When that was done he sent Cyclonus out to get 'entertainment'.

"I didn't know you could-" As he spoke, Mirage realized he was not being listened to. After a little while longer, he realized he had insulted Unicron... So, he would eat inhabited planets, and got insulted at the idea of stealing from them. Of course... Unicron _had_ said that he tried to avoid eating planets sentient life. Why was Mirage assuming he didn't mean it? It was fairly obvious that something was not normal here, perhaps more than one thing... Apparently, he owed Unicron an apology. Only for the accusation, though!

"Your new accommodations are ready. If you will follow the lighted corridors." Unicron was annoyed enough to still be short and cold, but curious enough to 'stick around'. He didn't know how Mirage would react to his changes... had no real experience with a 'real' mech, a real being not afflicted by a curse.

Mirage huffed a little, not at all happy with what he 'had' to do. Not that he exactly had to, but... "Thanks. Um..." He made it out the door and decently far down a hall before he could force the rest of his statement out. "U- Unicron? A... about what I... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed that- that you'd let your servant steal- or demand... anything." Nevermind that Cyclonus had kind of 'stolen' him... it was a different case, and Mirage could understand that. "So, I'm sorry. And... thank you for letting me change my room..."

"It... I suppose it was an easy parallel." Unicron decided not to make a fuss about it, he was going to 'eat' Mirage's planet, after all. The bleak reminder made him fall silent for a long brooding moment.

"It is no hardship to make sure you are as comfortable as can be, I have no wish to make this harder on you then need be." The truth, even if perhaps not the full truth. Unicron didn't quite know why he was so interested in Mirage, but interested he was.

Well... at least Unicron was quick to accept the apology. Mirage trailed his hand against the wall for a while, following the light. "I... I like the way the lighting works. Um. So... you said you can make fuels and such..." And of course, now he remembered Unicron offering to make him whatever he wanted. "Why? I mean, why did you learn? How did you learn?" That should be a safe enough topic, Mirage thought, watching how his hand blocked a small portion of the illumination as he walked.

"To pass the time, to have something to bargain with... to become something other than a barbaric brute?" Honestly Unicron wasn't sure of the reason why, it had just seemed like a good thing to learn. And it had taken a long time for him to figure out how to create some of the more breakable delicacies. Even longer to grasp how to make his own recipes and how to understand Cyclonus' responses to taste. Well, his words about them at least, reactions were not something he got from his herald. 

"Is there something you wish to taste? I have several things already made... or if you have some sort of preference?"

No... Unicron didn't need to know yet that Mirage still thought he was a bit of a brute. Telling him, or reminding him, wouldn't help matters at all. "I'll... let you pick? I can detail my own preferences once I remember them... It's been a long time since I've had much of a choice." Unicron hadn't exactly answered 'how' he had learned, but Mirage wasn't willing to pry, wasn't sure how much he wanted to know about Unicron. "Ah, may I ask... where did you find Cyclonus? And do you know what he means by being... er, cursed...?"

"I am not sure who found who to be honest. He needed me? He was dying, off lining slowly, freezing up... and that is about as much as I know." Unicron mused a little, he had asked and gotten half answers which he thought was the best Cyclonus could give. Just like his own dependence on the corax was inexplicable, so it was with his herald's frozen spark.

"Maybe one orn he will meet a mech who can give thaw him up."

"It's very creepy, you know. He showed me..." Maybe Cyclonus could be thawed out, but Mirage had no interest in being the one who did so! He had enough with dealing with Unicron and holding conversations with the walls! And about then, they came to the door. "Is it just coincidence that I only find the doors that lead where you want me to go?" Mirage asked as he opened it. The room, he quickly decided, had changed. The view of Unicron's surface was the same, or Mirage would have assumed this was a completely different observation room. "...Wow..."

"Your dealings with Cyclonus can be cut to only the most necessary if you prefer it? He was merely told to serve you as needed." Which had probably been interpreted oddly by the purple mech, Cyclonus was as not normal as Unicron himself.

"It is no coincidence, I can manipulate my chassis very accurately given time for it. I do not wish for you to get lost or damaged because I carelessly let you wander into my processing parts." He paused and hesitated between asking and waiting, not quite sure what the soft exclamation meant. Did Mirage like the room or not? 

"Um... no. It's okay... He's creepy, but not- not unpleasant?" And Cyclonus answered questions. That was a very important point in Mirage's factoring. "I... I still don't really have the concept of being... _in_ you... Oh! It- it looks good. The... room, I mean... Very different than it had been. It... doesn't look anything like the mech internals I've seen..." Tentatively, Mirage sat on one of the 'chairs', curving right out of the wall and with a pretty good view out the window.

"I am not a normal mech." Unicron couldn't really hide that; saw no reason to try either. Mirage wasn't going to stay with him, the mech didn't even like him. The gigantic mech experienced a strange, and very new, sort of dissatisfaction.

"I am pleased that it meets your wishes then."

"That's... true. You're... really not..." Mirage had not, quite, thought of it in such... blunt terms. "Of course, I'm still going to be bored... Er. Would... making some kind of... like, wall-hanging, or art pieces, would they be in your way? And... would it bother you if... if I asked Cyclonus to... get materials?"

"It would not annoy me but it might be destroyed if I had to rearrange things again." A tacit warning, though he would not at all mind seeing Mirage create something. Who knew, he might learn to do it himself... another skill would not be amiss, something new to master.

"Could you teach me, would this make boredom less likely?"

"Um." The question rather stunned Mirage, really. It was... far from what he had expected of Unicron, in so far as he expected anything of the... mech. "I would honestly be half-learning as I went, but... if that's fine with you, I... wouldn't mind teaching you." It would give him time to know Unicron, and maybe work out what was up with the corax and... everything. Just, everything. And maybe he would even enjoy his time with the mech.

"I would treasure what learning you could give." Which was the truth, like with the making of energon and delicacies he would have plenty of time perfecting skills alone, when Mirage left. Unicron ignored the tiny infinitesimal sting of that last realization.

That sounded... so odd. Odd and somehow spark-breaking. Unicron was... so alone, Mirage realized. It was really a pity the planet-eater had decided he needed to eat Earth. Without that... They could have been friends, maybe. "For now, is there... I don't know. Someplace I could explore, maybe? And how do you know where I am, anyway?"

"You are free to explore the gardens, or the... well, no, you are not space worthy, are you? Ah, I suppose I could show you around inside my chassis..." Honestly that was a little scary... or strange at least. There were places he did not want the small mech to see, others that he could not risk showing. All in all though, there was a lot he could show, he just didn't know it Mirage would find it interesting. Unicron considered the idea as objectively as he could, which was rather hard.

"It would be easier if I used my avatar, but it seemed to distress you."

No reply to the question he really wanted answered, but Mirage didn't ask again. "No, I'm... my alt mode is a car. Nothing that fancy... I don't mind your avatar. It's... actually easier on me? Just- don't go dying without warning me." That was the one thing he couldn't handle. The simple presence of the bronze and grey avatar, though? No, no problem at all... "Does your avatar have an alternate mode? And if it does, is it, well... The same as your real one...? That is, I... I guess I assume this... planet mode is an... alternate..." Now that Mirage was saying it, he realized just how _huge_ Unicron had to be.

"I will venture to warn you when I have to leave. And yes, to function as my avatar it had to be made as a perfect copy of my chassis, it is... all that I am. The planet mode is my alternate mode, though I haven't transformed in... megavorns." Had had no reason to, whom would he show his form off to? He was what he was and he did not want to try and pretend that he wasn't a monster with a conscious.

"...Thank you. I'd... kind of like to see that eventually. Both of them. It's... I couldn't imagine being in one form for that long. I get terribly... hum, kinked, I guess, when I have to stay in alt mode for too long. Don't you?" And Mirage had to admit that, with the size of the avatar, the 'planet' mode would be probably be... really ridiculously cute. Just for today, he had decided, he could relax and enjoy himself.

"I honestly don't know... maybe?" Unicron was slightly bemused; he had seldom thought that kind of things over. If a transformation hurt it hurt, that was it.

"I will be with you shortly, please be aware that I won't be able to hear you while transferring."

Mirage managed to laugh, lounging back in the chair as he waited. It occurred to him that, for once, he was completely unobserved. At least, he assumed Unicron couldn't see him if he couldn't hear him. The Autobot didn't do anything with the time, though, just waiting and watching the stars. He had just realized they were moving when the door opened, and so he shared his observation. "The stars are moving. Pretty slow, though... It's kind of interesting..."

"I suppose so..." Unicron wasn't bothered by the perceived subject switch, oddly riveted by the graceful arch of a slim thigh. This mech wasn't built like Cyclonus at all and he had never really considered his own build compared to that of other beings.

"What do you wish to see?"

Shrugging a little, Mirage turned to look at the avatar. It was just like he remembered it, bronze and grey and tall and broad... "Oh! That's what those things on your shoulders are!" Mirage exclaimed suddenly, looking back out the window a moment before studying Unicron a little more. "Do they move? I mean, on you avatar- I'm sorry! Er... I don't really care what you show me? I don't even know what you have..."

"My sensor array is fully functional in this form as well as in my real form." The question was strange but he accepted it, after all he would probably ask equally as strange questions in time. Gesturing at the door, he waited for Mirage to precede him out, wondering what the mech would find interesting. Possibly the gardens, if he avoided the one with the corax at least.

"I can show you where I make energon, another one of my gardens perhaps... my surface, though it is not an inspirational sight. My library?"

"No, those horn things, not the- oh, is _that_ what moved when you shrugged." Okay, that was probably just about enough of personal questions, and no, he really didn't want to run his hands all over- "Energon? And the library, though... that's not exactly a place to spend time _with_ someone." What kind of stories would Unicron have... would they be sized to match his avatar? They had better be, if Mirage was to read them!

"Yes, it was my sensor array, now I will show you all, if that is your wish." Since Mirage hadn't finished the first sentence Unicron ignored it and gestured at the door again. He couldn't show him anything if they didn't leave the observation room. Unicron still had very little notion of how to treat all of this... Cyclonus was far easier then Mirage!

Mirage just looked at Unicron for a moment, then jumped. "Oh! Sorry, I didn't realize!" He hurried out the door, passing close enough to Unicron to feel heat from the other's systems. Unicron really was being very accommodating to him... it was almost scary. Mirage couldn't forget Cyclonus calling Unicron a monster... He wondered what would really happen if the corax did all die.

"Don't be sorry, how would you have known." Unicron shrugged, even though Mirage currently had his back to him. This mech was puzzling, confusing... were all the intelligent beings like this? They were worth saving then, little enigmas one and all. But he had known that, Cyclonus had brought him recordings and told him stories. Dispassionate as they had been, it had still afforded him a glimpse of life.

"Turn left, I will take you to my processing plant and show you how I make energon."

"You were motioning towards the door. I should have realized. ...Why would I be apologizing about your sensor array?" He wondered what it felt like... No! No, he _didn't_! This was not a mech he wanted as a lover! ...Wait, what? No...! "Processing plant! Energon! Yes, good idea!" Mirage almost shouted the words, turning left and wondering what was wrong with him. Just because Unicron's form was... interesting. And attractive. And he seemed so nice, when one overlooked the 'eating Earth' plan...

"I have no idea... I am not sure I understand the function of apologizing for either? You are distracted and stressed, as I understand it those two cause beings to be less then aware they normally would be?" Unicron inclined his head slightly and steered Mirage towards a door into one of his main corridors.

"Um..." Unicron's odd behavior wasn't really helping Mirage. He kept reading the 'ignorance' as 'innocence', and that just made him want to... kept Unicron safe, teach him. "Apologizing for the array would be silly. Apologizing for keeping you waiting is... polite?" Mirage explained, this time following Unicron's directions. This corridor was much larger than the others...

"Polite? Politeness is a disguise of how you really feel... or so Cyclonus explained it, but he has a tendency to be harsh." Unicron shrugged again, slowing a little as he became aware that the smaller mech did not have his length of stride and was beginning to struggle with keeping up.

"Could you perhaps explain it to me?"

How, Mirage wondered while trying not to gape at Unicron, was he supposed to explain politeness to the Planet Eater? Who, don't forget, planned on eating Earth? Well... the first step would be not panicking. "Um. Well. He's... not entirely wrong. But... he's also not very polite..." Mirage managed a weak grin. "Politeness is... disguising some of how you feel in order to... spare others. Like... right now, I'm very upset that you plan to eat Earth but still say that this is you _not_ being a monster, but I don't want to get into a pointless screaming match with you, and so I politely try to ignore that, and for some foolish reason I find myself wanting to actually know you!"

Unicron stopped. He wasn't sure how to handle the tumble of only partially controlled words, or the fear in the small mech's optics. Touch was a normal thing to do for intelligent beings, but he highly doubted that he knew how to touch, or that Mirage would welcome his touch.

"I cannot change what your friend's theft has forced me to... I can only give your kin as much time as I have at my disposal. If you need to be polite to be near me, so be it, I will endeavor to remain distant and leave you in peace. Let me guide you back first?"

Mirage _wanted_ to do quite a lot of things. He wanted to hit Unicron again, to force answers out of him. He also wanted to touch that dang sensor array, to find out how it felt. He wanted to _understand_ Unicron. What he did was huff and shake his head. "No. No, don't. I... don't want to be alone here... You don't have a choice. I don't believe that, I don't understand it, but _you_ do, and fine. You know more than I do. I'm polite to everyone. And anyway... I said I wanted to actually know you, didn't I?" He huffed again, shaking a little. It wasn't, really, all bad, was it? With groons to prepare, and help, they might well be able to save everyone on Earth, and almost all the animals... and the humans would have space-travel. Surely all that wasn't so bad, was it...?

"As you wish..." Remaining silent except for when he was asked a question, Unicron led the blue and white mech deep into his core where he showed him his... well, his digestion system. After that, he took him to where he had changed and formed his chassis to produce energon and the delicatessens that Cyclonus used in trading. Lastly he showed him the waste stores that were slowly being filled again. Shelving that kept even the most delicate treat in perfect condition, suspended in localized stasis.

"You can take anything you want from here, or request that Cyclonus bring it to you." Mirage wouldn't make a noticeable dent in his supplies. He could afford to be generous, and it was about the only luxury he could offer.

It was... fascinating. It really, really was. Mirage was aware that he was probably seeing something that no mech beside Cyclonus had even seen, or ever would see. It all distracted him very nicely, and Mirage let it. When they reached the treats, Mirage couldn't suppress a sound of pleasure. So much, and so much of it was stuff he had thought no-one still knew how to make. He went directly for his personal favorite and took one off the shelf. He stopped with his hand half-way to his mouth, turning to face Unicron. "That avatar of yours can eat, can't it?"

"Yes?" Unicron was unsure what that fact had t do with anything. His experiments with the avatar and eating had been over long ago, he simply fueled it when he needed to, not really caring with what.

Mirage nodded and grabbed another treat, then went over to Unicron. "So. Eat," he insisted, just before popping the first treat into his mouth. The other was held up to Unicron's derma, and a part of Mirage was going nuts and asking what he was doing. Wanting to see if the other mech enjoyed treats, that was one thing, but _feeding_ him? There was no reason for that!

Leaning forward a little, Unicron accepted the treat, amiable enough to the idea of eating it though confused as to why it was important to his guest. Tastes were a thing that had, and still did, fascinated him for a long time... to the point that he had even tried eating things he disliked just to know how that felt to his avatar. He knew this treat, and was therefore surprised that he could taste something more than just that when he pulled back. Mirage? The mech had a taste! Did all mechs... all beings?

"Thank you."

Mirage's return thanks was a little garbled through his own gooey sweet, and his grin. Once again, Unicron looked so innocent. That was what prompted Mirage's question, once he had swallowed. "I'm wondering, just asking. You don't have to answer. But... what were you like before the... corax 'came' to you?" He grabbed another pair of sweets, harder and not at all gooey this time, and ate the first one, waiting for Unicron's answer before offering him the other.

"Perhaps, I was a predator... and a natural force. But not one of the balanced predators, not one that 'fit' into a cycle of death and renewal. And not the type of natural disaster that you can mend from..." Shrugging, he hesitantly accepted the second treat, telling himself that attempting to taste more of his guest was a bad idea. Tempting, but bad.

"You ate whatever planet was close enough, without caring about sentience," Mirage said. It wasn't a question. "This avatar. You made it after the corax, then?" He managed a smile, not really liking where his thoughts were going. Mirage coved his thoughts by going for more treats. "It's... fun, to see you taste," he explained, before Unicron could ask a question that would make Mirage actually think about his actions.

"Yes and yes." Unicron answered the question and the none-question alike. The offered explanation for the feeding simply made him shrug even as he obediently took another treat from delicate fingers.   
"Since I don't usually use my avatar I don't eat this way much... what I feed on, well, I don't taste it as I do these."

"You know, I don't really care that you feed on dead rocks. It's kind of sad that you don't really taste, though..." Mirage hunted a moment, searching for a really flavorful treat and pressing it to Unicron's derma until he took it. The Autobot kept his fingers there, not-quite holding the avatar's mouth closed in something that wasn't quite viciousness. "Taste it. _Savor_ it," Mirage ordered, once again doing the same.

Again he obediently did as the small mech ordered. Savoring the rich, slightly sour taste of the wax of the treat's shell and then the powerfully sweet liquid filling as it burst out from the melting wax. It was a good combination, one of the treats he had loved very much...

"There is nothing to taste when I... feed. As you say, it is dead rock, ore, minerals, until I combine them they mean nothing."

He could see the enjoyment in those odd golden optics. Mirage smiled, then realized his fingertips were actually resting on Unicron's derma. He moved as though burned, and did not go for another treat. "If the corax dies... you will lose the ability to control yourself? You'll be like you were?" It made no sense. But none of this did. Mirage felt lonely, and guilty, hugging himself slightly.

"I can already feel it happening." Unicron didn't try to hide the sadness in his voice. There was nothing to keep him sane, for lack of a better word, other than the corax. How it was done he did not know, but it had been done and now it was being undone.

"If I don't get the corax back, every last little particle of it... I will devastate this entire galaxy and move on to the next, and then the next. No one will be able to stop me, nor will I be able to stop myself."

Even if Unicron was wrong, or was mad, even if the corax was truly nothing... he _believed_. Which meant there was only one thing Mirage could do. Only one course he could take... Mirage shivered, feeling cold and wishing for a mad moment that he was as frozen as Cyclonus. "I don't understand. But... I believe you." Mirage almost reached, almost made some effort to wipe away the sorrow he saw on Unicron's face. Almost. "I'm tired. I'd like to rest now."

"As you wish." Unicron escorted the small mech back, a little unnerved by what had happened, well, more that he wasn't sure what had happened at all. Mirage had seemed happy until his digits had lingered too long on his dermas... It was as if the touch had been wrong. Was it wrong to touch others? Maybe for Mirage's people, or maybe it was because it was him.

"Simply speak if you wish something, I will send Cyclonus to you as soon as he returns. Recharge well, Mirage." Withdrawing, he wandered the corridors for a time, wondering at his reluctance to leave the avatar behind.

"Thank you," Mirage said to the empty room. He was sure, with an infiltrator's certainty, that he was not being watched, that Unicron didn't hear his thanks. Mirage didn't care, curling up on the berth and staring blankly out the window.

Unicron was going to eat Earth. And Mirage was going to let it happen, unless somehow the corax could be returned in a less destructive manner. That was the only way to save Earth now... So why was he flirting with the Planet Eater? Why did he even now have fantasies of touching, of feeling? Mirage shivered in helpless anger, only it wasn't directed at Unicron this time.

It was directed at himself.


	4. Chapter 4

Cyclonus was somewhat at a loss. Unicron had sent him off with the order to get several things for Mirage. Unspecified things for weaving and 'entertainment'. He had gotten a lot of different things, carefully choosing from races that were robotic in nature and had the same stature as their guest. That was all he could do, since he had not been better directed. His master had seemed so very distracted when he send him off...

Right now he was waiting for the small mech's recharge cycle to end.

Mirage woke and stretched, almost feeling good for a moment. Until he remembered what had happened the last time he was awake. What he had thought. His choice. And then he realized he was being watched. One mech. "Cyclonus? Is that you?" Mirage asked, without turning over. It was him or Unicron, and Unicron hadn't seemed rude enough to watch a mech recharge.

"I have brought the requested items." It was pointless to say that Mirage had guessed right, just as the question had been pointless to begin with. It could have only been Unicron or him, and the mech had probably just guessed based on some 'wish' that Unicron couldn't keep track of him no matter where he was.

"Do you wish fuel or should I wait for you to call on me?"

"How does he know the only way to get the corax back is by eating Earth? Has this happened before?" Mirage asked, finally turning, looking at Cyclonus measuringly. Not an answer in any sense of the word. Mirage had, once, been used to servants, and it was all too easy for him to see Cyclonus as he had seen them. Easier, because he knew Cyclonus could not feel. Looking at the 'Herald' turned to looking at the surface he was laying on, and Mirage poked it lightly. He was touching Unicron... That didn't really help his mood.

"It happened once before... but not on a living world, he tried to get it back without harming the world anyway. It was a life cradle, and could in time have been the birthplace of a race like yours." Instead it had been devoured. While Cyclonus had felt nothing, he had understood that Unicron was torn, feeling too much.

"There was no other way, there is no other way now." Waiting impassively, he looked at the mech on the berth, feeling, as always, nothing at all.

No way to save Earth. But the humans, the animals... Those could be saved, still. Unicron had promised to help. Mirage had to help as well. "Fuel, please. And then- you said you brought stuff? So you can show me after I fuel. Or while, if it would be easier. Thank-" Too late, Mirage remembered that Cyclonus wouldn't understand the thanks. But... why should that stop him? "Thank you."

"As you wish." Cyclonus turned and walked out, alerting Unicron to the fact that his guest was online as he fetched energon and, when prompted, a small box of treats and other sorts of goodies. He did not understand the appeal of such things, why did it matter if the taste and texture was different? It was merely energy. He returned promptly to the refurnished observation room.

Mirage drained the cube quickly, and kept the box to snack on. He knew the box was from Unicron. Cyclonus wouldn't think to bring treats, surely? He was sure that Unicron was noticing him again, but Mirage ignored it. He wasn't ready to deal with that... "Okay. So, what did you bring for me, Cyclonus? Because, maybe you can handle doing nothing for a long time, but I really can't." And since they had never got around to the 'library' yesterday, Mirage needed something else to do.

Cyclonus inclined his head and then started to bring bundles out of his subspace pockets. There were several different kinds of looms and many more materials that could be woven on those looms. There were datapads with manuals for the looms, and some leisure reading. Because he always picked up new literature for the library. The observation room was a large room, but as he stacked, put together and set up things it slowly began feeling crowded.

This was... a _lot_ of stuff. He might need to ask Unicron for another room. ...Make that would have to ask. Wow... "That's, er... wow. That's a lot of stuff. I don't suppose you know another room I could take over with this stuff? Or, well, I did promise to teach Unicron, and this _is_ his- er. Body. So he's got the say..." Mirage realized he was babbling a bit, and closed his mouth.

"A room has already been prepared; would you choose what you wish to work with? I will leave some here and set the rest up for you... this is not all of it, merely samples." Cyclonus was rather, well... annoyed was wrong. He didn't feel anything but there was some... sense?, of being short with the mech. Of being... irritated maybe?

"Unicron was adamant that you should be adequately supplied." No matter that the words were as flat as everything else he said, there was a certain sense of disapproval over them as he stared down at Mirage.

"Oh. Oh! Oh, yeah... sorry, yeah, I should do that. Something simple to start, um... that." Mirage pointed, making his way over and started to choose more things. "Um, this is definitely enough, thank you. Do you want- er, need, any help setting things up?" Cyclonus wasn't supposed to feel things... but Mirage was sure he had been just a little clipped. Disapproval over laziness wasn't exactly an emotion, was it? Or at least, it could be purely logical, just look at Prowl...

"No." The blunt dismissal was followed by putting away what Mirage hadn't wanted in here and then Cyclonus left. He set up the large room that his master had created for this purpose before going to his own, well earned, recharge.

Looking at the door in something like shock, Mirage replayed the last few moments a couple of times. That had been weird, even for this mad-house. Well, nothing for it now... "Unicron? I know you know I'm up. I'm not sure if you were watching, but... wow. I could have sworn he was... upset with me... Anyway. I'm not... mad at you, or anything. So, you can drop by if you want, or... whatever..." Uncomfortably aware that he was talking to an empty room, Mirage shut up and tried to remember how one wove.

Unicron hadn't been watching, though he had listened in. He was also surprised at his herald's manner, but didn't really have anything to compare it with. Transferring to his avatar, he made his way to Mirage slowly, walking in as the small mech had just seated himself by one of the two looms he had chosen to stay.

"I do not watch you... I listen in, but not actively, it is merely to be sure I can be here when you need it."

"Aah. Makes sense... I have no clue if I've got this right. I found one of the books he brought, but... Ah, well. I guess you're even more lost than I am... Oh! Thank you for the sweets..." Mirage figure that the first thing he should do was remember what was what on the loom. "There's a war on earth. My side against the others. The native sentiences are caught up in the middle. Not all of them, there's probably only a couple dozen Cybertronians on Earth. I thought you should know." It probably wouldn't make a difference, but... who knew. The whole thing was presented as a tangent, Mirage's gaze flicking between the bookfile and the loom.

"It... is unfortunate." Unicron swallowed, audibly, and stopped. What could he say? What was there to say... Nothing was changed by knowing, except that he felt more pain. He didn't want to do it, but it was one planet or the universe. 

"I... would wish there was another way..."

Mirage stood, went over, and patted Unicron's arm. Then he wondered what he was doing. He wasn't even so touchy with Cosmos... "I know. And I am still going to suggest anything I think of, on the off chance I see something you haven't. But... I don't expect to. ...I do have one request. Do you _have_ to kill the- thief? Because he's my friend... and I assure you, realizing what he did, well... It'll be punishment enough..." Poor, innocent Cosmos... Mirage was slow to pull away from Unicron, though, to sit back at the loom.

"I..." Unicron had never been asked to spare someone who had stolen from him. Usually they had known what they did, been, if not evil, then at least bad. This thief had taken to make someone else happy. No matter the catastrophe he had created, his intentions had been... pure.

"For... you, I can spare him for you."

"Thank you," Mirage said, softly. Then he motioned to the seat next to him. "Here. I'm going to see what I remember about weaving, starting with what's what on a loom. So you need to be close..." Not fully, but... Mirage thought he would like to feel the warmth of another's systems close by. He hadn't been this alone... ever. Even while infiltrating, there had always been someone close to him, voices, mechs. Here... there were only the three of them.

Unicron sat down, feeling oddly warm from the simple thank you, and settled in to pay attention to his new teacher. Weaving was obviously a complicated action, not helped by the fact that Mirage, as he had warned, wasn't very good at it. He honestly didn't mind that, it was nice to learn with someone instead of just experimenting by himself.

"This is very different from anything I have attempted before."

"I learned in my xenoculture class. We had our own weaving, of course, but I was a noble. We learned it as xenoculture, with organic threads... Speaking of which, pick a color. I think I've worked out how to set this up..." He had time to make his own fabrics, and Unicron would... be pleased to pick a color. He was quite attentive, listening and asking questions... It was kind of boggling for Mirage to remember he was teaching a being so old he couldn't even grasp the age.

"A color? Oh... what does it mean to be noble on your world?" Unicron pointed to a shimmering silver thread. It would, he thought, look good against Mirage's blue and white coloring. Touching the loom carefully, he marveled at the smooth texture against his digits tips. Touch... he had never explored that sense much either. 

"What is this loom made of?"

"I'm not sure. It's not wood... at a guess, I'd say plastic or metal. I think plastic, actually, though not like Earth has-" Mirage looked away slightly, then forced himself to continue, grabbing the thread Unicron had selected. "Noble... meant I lived in the Towers. Up above everything. I had all sorts of stuff, energon and fabrics and waxes. Corax gardens. The war caught me by surprise, actually. Most other nobles died, they couldn't adapt. I could... It's all gone now. The survivors, all of them, the whole remaining race, is in stasis, apart from a handful that went into space. Spread the war... we didn't mean to! We were just looking for energon..." Mirage knelt where he was, the loom half-strung. "They should hate us," he muttered to himself. "No matter what, we just shatter everything... our planet, theirs..."

For a moment Unicron didn't react, then he carefully reached out and touched Mirage's shoulder.

"Sometimes you cannot help what happens. Things are seldom as clear as everyone try to make them. Your war could have spread in other ways, or your race could have annihilated themselves... the other race may learn from you, especially now." He did not understand culture or socializing, but he was good at looking at the big picture. He had seen wars, from beginning to end, and he understood that not everything was uncomplicated. Not understanding part of it made this realization even more profound.

"We're still trying to! I could probably name every active mech, every one of us, and half are trying to kill the other half-" Mirage stopped, cycled his intakes. It was an old problem for him. He knew why they had to fight, of course. He'd seen the other side. He leaned back, against Unicron, and made himself calm down. Who knew? Maybe sacrificing Earth would also serve to end the age-long war. "I'm sorry. Usually I have the sense not to question myself. We fight because the Decepticons won't stop, so... it's not really like we have a choice. ...I guess we're the same, like that. You and I..."

"You do not have to apologize, as I understand it this is... er..." Well, he didn't really understand it, Unicron huffed nervously. He did not understand the life this mech had had, did not understand how to interact. Touching had apparently been the correct thing to do, but other than that... he was lost.

"In that we have no choice about what we are and do? I suppose we are similar, yes." 

Mirage gave a shaky laugh, patting Unicron's hand and then sitting up again, returning to threading the loom. "We're also similar in being very bad at socializing. I'm better than I had been... I can do small-talk, and the meaningless chatter that was so common, but real stuff?" He smirked, then deliberately grabbed Unicron and pulled him over. "Okay, watch how I do this. It's not really hard, but... well, you probably need to see how I do it before you can do it."

Considering that he had rather a lot of bulk on the blue and white mech, he was surprised at the other's increasing need to touch him. Perhaps it was simply loneliness... Yes, likely, after all Mirage did not have Cyclonus' defense against that pitfall.

"This is going to become cloth?"

The laugh this time was much more genuine. "Well, that is the hope. I have to warn, it probably won't be very _good_ cloth, not yet. Ah- You have seen cloth, haven't you, Unicron?" Mirage looked up at Unicron, and barely noticed the strangeness of the golden optics. It would be very odd if Unicron hadn't seen cloth... imagine trying to make it when it had never been seen! But Mirage could believe it. He would believe almost anything Unicron told him, at this point.

"I have seen it. Cyclonus has brought me garments and other things from many worlds... most of them makes no sense to me." Unicron shrugged lightly, dismissing the fact that they were both learning and learning included mistakes.

"Cyclonus assured me he had brought plenty of supplies, should we run out I can send him out again."

"Oh, good! Then you've seen the weave of the thread. That's what we're doing. Think you can finish threading this?" Mirage didn't comment about Cyclonus. He was very sure than the 'frozen' mech didn't like him, however _that_ worked out. He wasn't really worried about it. "And then once we have cloth down, we can work on patterns. And then- well. I'm not actually sure what we'll do then. Maybe embroidery." He was acting as though they had all the time of eternity, and Mirage didn't even realize what he was doing.

"I think so, yes." Unicron accepted the bundle of thread, continuing the work he had observed Mirage doing. It wasn't hard, but it was new... the work was soothing for that reason alone. Of course it helped that he had Mirage to talk to, someone to share with. For the first time ever!

Mirage watched, stepping in now and again when Unicron started to mess up. The Planet Eater was quick, though, and the work easy, and soon the loom appeared ready. "Right, then. Do we want it all the same color, or do we want to play with contrasting? I think both would be equally easy..." Unicron was... fun, to work with, even if the whole situation was absurd. It wasn't fighting, wasn't war.

"If we can find a blue one that shimmers it would be fun to try the last?" Unicron tried to ignore the flash of embarrassment that followed his statement. He hadn't meant to imply... but that _was_ what he was implying.

"Sure. You might need to see what he put in the other room..." Mirage answered, looking through the datapad. He barely noticed the avatar leaving to see what else there was. Silver and blue would look good. He would have expected Unicron to go with gold, though, or something like tha- The datapad dropped from Mirage's fingers as a thought hit him. By the time the avatar returned, however, Mirage had collected himself, and read enough to be fairly sure on the next step. "So... How many other mechs have _you_ spoken to?"

"Me?" The question was a surprise, and Unicron had to actually think the answer over. He had had visitors... mechs he gingerly provided for, for a simple recharge cycle. Sometimes they left happy to have gotten a good refueling and be on their way again, others had stolen and had been hunted down by Cyclonus to have their punishment served. But actually spoken to?

"Cyclonus and you? I do not recall talking to any other being I have had on or in me. Unless... I have sentenced some who have stolen from me, those I spoke to, but they did not answer back as if we had a conversation, like now." Why did Mirage need to know this?

So, the mech probably had no idea what he had suggested. Mirage told himself firmly that he was not disappointed, and laughed a little. "No, I meant conversed with, not sentenced. That sounds... processor-stallingly boring, really." It was almost a pity that none of the mech Mirage knew would be willing to live on, or in, Unicron. He could probably support a whole colony, and would almost certainly benefit from it. It wasn't going to happen, though, and Mirage shoved the thought away.

"I can't say... I really know nothing of social interactions." Unicron felt faintly embarrassed admitting that, yet again. He also felt... disappointed? No, devalued was more correct, in Mirage's optics for being less then what seemed 'normal'. The giant mech wasn't used to feeling so helpless.   
"Maybe I should let you do this alone... rejoin when you feel... ah."

"Hum? When I feel? Feel what, Unicron?" Mirage was playing with the shuttle, double checking the steps. "Don't go. I... I'd be bored alone. And how else will you learn social interaction? Here, sit down... I think I have this. If I do, I'll leave you to this on, and start my own, and we can talk while we work." It would be a way to pass the time, at worst...

"I don't seem to do this very well." Unicron stayed, Mirage was right that he would learn nothing if he did not stay. He still felt... odd though, shaken almost. He did not know what to do with his visitor and the feelings the little mech was inspiring in him. Feelings he could barely put names to, that he was afraid to name, knowing that Mirage was merely using him and would never be able to feel the same back.

By the time the day was done, Unicron and Mirage had managed almost a meter of woven cloth, which improved as they went. Mirage still had no clue what they would do with the cloth, of course, but that wasn't important right now, same as the fact that they didn't have any patterning. Mirage had also completely forgotten that he had only fueled once that day, standing to see Unicron to the door with a trace of regret.

"I will send Cyclonus with fuel... I believe that you need to refuel at least two times per online cycle, is that correct?" Unicron would have happily brought the fuel himself but he didn't think it was a good idea to intrude more on Mirage's time. "Recharge well."

"Oh. Yeah- Yes. Thank yo- um. Maybe we shouldn't... bother Cyclonus? I... I could take myself to where the fuel is, well, you'd have to show. And guide me back here- Oh, yeah. Do you have anything like... um, wash-racks...?" Mirage was embarrassed to ask that, but he was very aware of how much grit he was beginning to accumulate. He didn't like it, not at all.

"I have... baths? If that is what you mean, and if that is your preference, so be it." Unicron nodded thoughtfully. He was very much aware that Mirage didn't feel good around Cyclonus and that, in some logic dictated way, his herald did not 'like' the small blue and white mech.

"I will light the way as soon as I have left the avatar, do you wish to bathe before or after refueling?"

He wasn't sure he wanted Unicron to leave the avatar, but Mirage didn't tell him that. He didn't want Unicron doing anything dangerous, either. "I... think after. Now that you've reminded me, I'm... very hungry. Thank you. I had a very good time today!" He grabbed Unicron's hand, forgot whether he had planned anything with it, and ended up shaking the hand as though thanking a guest for visiting.

"I enjoyed it and... I... You can talk to me? I will not monitor you needlessly, I can talk to you without paying attention to any other readings from the place you are at." The offer was hesitant, Unicron wasn't sure he wanted the small mech to know this. Yet he didn't feel it was fair to not tell it...

"I- if you can? I might like that. Um. We have public wash-racks, but I always take a stall. Still, I... have gotten used to being able to talk to my friends..." Mirage smiled a little. His friends would be safe... They might not want him back, he realized. They wouldn't understand the choice he was making... "Anyway, I'm... sure I should let you go and... do whatever. Is it... easier for you to be in your real body?"

"I need to leave the avatar regularly, but... it causes me no discomfort to use it." Since he didn't recharge like Mirage seemed to need or used fuel the same way... well, a lot of things seemed different.

"My senses are limited by using it though, that is why I need to return to my chassis occasionally." Hesitating he looked between the doorway and Mirage. Should he leave? Mirage seemed to want him to stay but...

"Then... why so eager to leave it? Unless you miss your senses." That... sounded horrible, now that it was said. "Wait- have you _ever_ cleaned your ava- Ah. Maybe I should go fuel. I'm not making much sense myself. Fuel. Yeah." And then shower. And not thinking about Unicron. No, definitely _not_ thinking about Unicron. How could he even be thinking about that?

"I am not eager to leave..." Unicron frowned, uncertain yet again. Mirage was confusing, maybe he was right and it was because he needed fuel. In the planet eater's opinion, the mech was no less and no more confusing with fuel in his tanks.

"Just call and I will be there..." Finally walking out, he left his avatar as soon as it had been hidden away and made sure the corridors to the fuel storage area was lighted.

No- no, _no_! Unicron did not mean it that way! Mirage didn't want him to, either! Even if it did make his joints feel a little weak... After a few moments, once he was sure he could walk, Mirage left the room, following the light and trailing his had unconsciously against the wall. Fuel was first, and Mirage just took some of the energon, ignoring the treats for now. Then he went to find the wash-racks. Or, no, the 'baths', Unicron had called them. Mirage moaned aloud when he saw them, multiple pools of water, steaming. "But, why do you have these?"

"I... experimented?" Unicron felt the need to shrug, wondering if that was normal. He couldn't in planet mode of course, but the urge was there... for the first time ever.

"They are quite clean, I can provide you with various cleaning fluids if you wish it... just tell me and I will add them to the water."

"Oh, good, so you have cleaned your avatar," Mirage answered. Then he felt the need to bash his head into something at the image that conjured up. As hot as Unicron might be, water streaming down him, over that array... "C- cleaner, yeah. I'll need something suitable for mech internals. Ah... I don't know anything specific..." At least he had his own wash-cloth.

"Of course, it needs to be maintained like any vessel does." Unicron was faintly amused, wondering if he had perhaps chosen a wrong scent or something when he had readied his avatar for use. Choosing something at random that he knew was fitting for the purpose, he changed the composition of the water in the pools.

"I hope this is to your liking."

A new scent joined the steam on the air, and Mirage hummed happily. It smelt like some kind of citrus, with a hint of spice... "Where's it from? I like it..." He did, at least so far, and entered the pool with another moan. He quickly discovered there were little seats under the water, and Mirage sat down, taking the opportunity to soak. "And is there anything limiting how long I spend here?"

"I am not sure? Cyclonus brings me samples of different things that I can recreate, also usually to sell or bargain with." What he actually 'ate' of the planets he devoured were the silicate, not the minerals or metals and crystals. He had started producing things because he wanted to learn about the small intelligent beings that lived on so many planets in the universe. Cyclonus was his ambassador, sort of. Trade was the best way to learn, leaning to weave was yet another thing he could trade with if... yes, if.

"No? I see no reason to limit your time here or anywhere else, just don't take the unlighted corridors."

Mirage settled back with a happy purr. He had sorely missed soaking, missed nearly-unlimited hot water. It was much quieter than he had become used to, but Mirage could handle that. Now, if only it were as easy to ignore the other heat in his systems... It didn't matter that it had been a few days since he even felt safe enough to masturbate, and it didn't matter that Unicron was attractive. It wasn't the first time he'd had to go without... Mirage huffed a little and started cleaning himself.

Unicron was tempted to break his promise, he didn't quite know why though. Just... he wanted to _see_ Mirage enjoy the water; know how the mech experienced it. Did he derive as much pleasure from it as Unicron did when he took care of his avatar? How did his plating look with water sliding down it, covering it... So many questions, ideas, thoughts. But he had promised, he would be there only as a voice, someone to talk to if needed. 

With his mood broken, Mirage didn't spend much more time in the bath. He did have to ask where the towels were, but then he was ready for sleep. Hopefully he'd be able to sleep...

He was, but he woke up feeling even needier than before. Mirage huffed a little, then looked around. The avatar wasn't in the room, and it didn't feel like Unicron was watching him. Still, trying to fix his problem didn't work. He wasn't an exhibitionist, he didn't want to be watched! At a loss, Mirage went invisible, and was finally able to get off enough to feel comfortable. After a quick clean-up, and a check of the halls, Mirage went and got some energon, then addressed his... host. "Did you want to continue the lesson?"

"Good cycle, Mirage. If you are rested and refueled I would be happy to join you." Having been vaguely aware of the small being walking around in him, Unicron wasn't surprised to be addressed so suddenly. He was a little bit startled at the manner, but what did he know about manners? This might be perfectly normal among Mirage's people.

"Good cycle. I'm sorry, I guess I was a little rude. I'm rested, I figured we could fuel together? It- fueling with someone is more enjoyable. If you don't mind? And how are you?" Right, just because Unicron hadn't recharged or exactly 'gone' anywhere didn't mean that Mirage had a reason to be rude. And then the Planet Eater showed better manners than he did... That was just kind of really bad, embarrassing.

"I would be, ah... delighted to join you, mm... your quarters?" There was really nowhere else to do it, but this was a kind of 'game'. At least it was often mentioned as being that in the texts, book files that Cyclonus bought for him. He wasn't sure how good he was at it, but Mirage could correct him if he did wrong, right? 

"I am well, thank you."

Something about the acceptance made Mirage slightly... not 'uncomfortable', really, but he felt odd. Once again, he reminded himself that Unicron really had no clue how to interact, and any 'come ons' were purely unintentional, just the way Mirage wanted them. "Yes, I suppose my quarters will do. You can work on your weaving more, and I can work out how to do stripes... Meet you there?" Mirage smiled at the wall before realizing how ridiculous that had to look. Luckily for his peace of mind, he reached his 'room' soon enough.

Unicron took his time, figuring it was only polite to let Mirage settle down before he arrived. At least he thought that something like that fell under the category of 'politeness'. He didn't drag it out past a hurried cleaning of his avatar's armor. Mirage had not seemed happy about the idea of his avatar not being clean.

It was the familiar citrus and spice smell that got Mirage's attention first. He looked up from the datapad, meeting Unicron's optics. It smelt good, and dang it if he wasn't having inappropriate thoughts once again! "Ah... Hello. I was just looking up stripes. Er... Energon first, I guess. I hope you don't mind the flavor, I just picked at random."

"If we don't like this type, there are other flavors we can go get." Unicron nodded his assent and sat down at the table. A little bit awkwardly, since he had not counted on having to seat his tall avatar at the relatively low table. 

"Is it difficult to make patterns then, or stripes?" Something to talk about was better than nothing.

Mirage tried to hide his smile as Unicron made himself sit. The poor mech didn't really fit... "I wouldn't care if you changed your seat to be more comfortable for you... I mean, it's your body-" Mirage stopped rather suddenly, still not entirely comfortable with that concept.

"Ah. Stripes are slightly more complicated. I'm not sure about 'difficult'. From what I recall, it doesn't get hard until we start of patterns, and even then it depends on how complicated they are." Nodding slightly, Mirage sipped some of the energon, pleased with his choice.

"I would have to leave my avatar for that... I will manage." Since Mirage did not like him leaving it behind, he could manage. It was nice of the smaller mech to notice, and he might tweak the room a little while the mech bathed or recharged, but not now. 

"Just what does stripes entail?" Lifting his own cube he found the taste to be mild and slightly sweet.

"Oh. Then, later..." Mirage smiled, glad Unicron had realized how disconcerting the 'dead' effect was. "Stripes, well... usually it's just changing the warp and-or the woof. That leads to, er... 'plaid'. There's other ways, involving more than one layer. That's about where my lessons ended last time. Or, of course, with the right threads, it's just changing programming, but what we have here is just... cloth." Mirage shrugged a little, drinking more.

"I suppose that it will make more sense when I see it being done?" Because that was really not making much sense to Unicron. He decided to concentrate on refueling, quietly sipping his energon until he realized that Mirage was staring at him... well, sort of. 

"Yes? Am I doing something wrong?" He might be, he wasn't used to refueling with someone, or really any of this. A fact he spent too much time worrying about.

"It should... Um?" Mirage realized he had sort of been staring, and heated in embarrassment. "No, no, you're fine! I... Er, I was actually kind of... trying to work out where this room would be on, I mean, in, your root mode. That's... why I was looking at your shoulder..." Rude, and stupid, there was no reason for him to have done that! It was a very silly thing to wonder, anyway.

"Inside my abdominal area I believe, the exact location would probably not make much sense." Unicron shrugged, indifferent to the subject. He was not used to such curiosity, but he didn't mind it, he supposed that such things were normal to ask if they were not readily apparent in an altmode.

"Really?" And now Mirage was staring at the avatar's rather trim waist. "I... would have thought your shoulder... I shouldn't be staring!" Mirage made himself look away, facing the weaving instead. Really, he should probably tell Unicron what he was doing... No, no, he didn't want the Planet Eater to feel self-conscious. At least, he didn't think he did. It surely wouldn't help anything, at least...

"It is... considered wrong to stare. Why is that?" The statement was musing, he had always been curious about that, and the question was hopeful as he leaned forward. Maybe Mirage could explain, Cyclonus hadn't been able to do so. 

"There are so many taboos that I do not understand the reason for, please teach me?" Unicron pressed a little more, attempting to catch the smaller mech's optics even though he had stopped looking at him.

The question drew Mirage's attention back to Unicron, and he huffed a little. "Staring... tends to... suggest interest. But interest isn't always wanted, and being stared at sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable. Like... like you're waiting for them to do something, but they don't know what. So, it's become rude. Rude is... I guess it's anything that might make others uncomfortable. Actually, you're doing very well."

"I am doing nothing at all... I can't move among other beings and I cannot invite them here. All I have learned is from stories that in themselves can be difficult to understand, and from Cyclonus, who has no feelings and so cannot truly explain them." Unicron let the outburst come, but made sure it had less heat behind it then it should rightly have had. 

"Thank you for your kind words, but I am well aware of what I lack."

"But... you are doing well..." Mirage said weakly, automatically reaching for Unicron's hand to comfort him. The mech would do so well with a small colony living on, or in, him... Not humans. Completely aside from eating earth, humans were too small to really get along well with Unicron the way Mirage was. "I'll... tell you, when I notice you doing something wrong... Why can't you invite others here?"

"Remember how you reacted to me?" Unicron didn't try to hide the sadness that remark evoked in him. Taking his hand back he drained his cube and tried to banish the memories of Mirage's first time here. He couldn't expect anything from the smaller mech, no matter how much he wanted to. Mirage was only trying to cope as well as he could with what he had. He would always hate him in the end...

Mirage looked down, then nodded slowly. He did remember how he reacted... "That was only because I didn't know what you were. And I got scared when your avatar seemed to die." Neither of those would be very great barriers, if someone just told the visitors what to expect. But... who would do that? Cyclonus? Mirage would have laughed at that thought in less serious circumstances. Himself? No, he was going to go back, live with his friends. ...on whatever new planet Unicron found for them. What would they think of him? He wasn't even trying to stop the Planet Eater anymore, was he? No, he was sitting here, teaching him how to weave, planning on _letting_ Unicron eat Earth when he should be trying to- To kill Unicron. Mirage looked at the avatar blankly, remembering how it looked all grey and dead, trying to imagine how the planet would look. All the halls darkened, the pools cooling, the treats and cubes souring. But Earth, and all other planets, would be safe...

"It doesn't matter, Mirage, trust me on this one... they all know what I am called anyway, it seems like there are more legends about my old self then there are about Primus himself." He was beginning to doubt the value of staying alive. Unicron shook his head abruptly, he had a function in the universe... even if it scared everyone it was still a needed place. At least, it was now that he had an actual spark and not just a void in his spark chamber.

He didn't want Unicron to die. And as long as no-one else ever stole the corax, planets would be safe enough, at least any of the ones anyone cared about. Mirage couldn't ask about the corax again though, couldn't bear to make Unicron any more unhappy than he already so clearly was. Finishing the energon in his cube, Mirage stood up and went to the loom. "Let's... do some more weaving, and not worry about anything else for a while."

"As you will." Unicron was pretty sure he had upset Mirage but if the smaller mech wouldn't explain himself there was nothing he could do about it. Still wanting to learn he joined the other at their looms, concentrating on making the cloth as well as he was able and only talking when it was needed or there was something one of them wanted to share. It was nice, if monotonous... strangely hypnotic, one could lose time like this, just watching the scuttle move back and forth.

Mirage got the stripes worked out, and decided he would offer to show Unicron how to do them tomorrow. He spent much of the day just thinking, strangely at ease with the golden-bronze presence in the room. "...I don't think they'll want me back. Or at least, most of my side isn't going to know what to think about me when I do get back. They've... never liked me much, really, but I can't blame most of them."

"Why?" Unicron was rather startled at the confession, not at all sure where it came from or why it was said now. Mirage had this tendency to just state things out of any kind of context he could detect. Compared to socializing, inter galaxy navigation was easy!

"Well, at first, we're just from different social levels. I was rich, one of those that indirectly started the war. I just want it done, over with, so I can get back to my life. And now..." Mirage gave a shuddering sigh. "They would say I'm giving up too easily. I'm not trying hard enough to stop you. That I should never, never be okay with the idea of sacrificing Earth, even to keep the rest of the galaxy safe..." He didn't like to admit to the choice he had made, especially not to the one who had necessitated it.

"I am sorry... I wish..." Unicron stopped, he couldn't say anything that had not been said already. Apologizing, explaining, what meaning did it all have to Mirage... 

"I will light the way to the bathing pools." He withdrew, confused and hurting, unable to fix anything and not quite knowing why he felt like he needed to fix things.

He was not sure what he had expected from the confession, but that was not it. Mirage blinked at the door for a moment, and then growled, hitting the wall. "Unicron! That is not what I _meant_! I know you can hear me! I don't _blame_ you, slag it all! It's not your fault!" And now he was angry, utterly, blindingly angry at the entire situation, and there weren't even any Decepticons to shoot.

Yes, he could hear Mirage. Unicron didn't respond though, stretching his waste sensor capabilities towards the world he would soon be destroying. Was it worth it? What if he did something else... it wasn't like he would be missed, he was the scourge of the universe. 

It was easy to feel the small being that dwelled inside him; he even fantasized that he could feel his anger. At least that was one feeling he could claim for himself, one thing that one being had felt just for him. Maybe it really would be better to end it all...

There was no answer, and Mirage was able to pretend it was Unicron he was angry with. It gave him a concrete target for his anger. It only lasted until Mirage left his room and went for the pools out of simple boredom. He couldn't be angry at Unicron, he couldn't. The Planet Eater was only doing what he had to do to survive and remain controlled. His only other option was to offline himself, and Mirage could not expect that, not from anyone.


	5. Chapter 5

Unicron let Mirage be for a while, probably longer then the mech cared for, but he needed to think. Or maybe it was more correct to say that he needed to _stop_ thinking, and feeling... Mirage made him feel too much. He was supposed to be an executioner, of dead worlds true, but he wasn't meant to feel on the level Mirage forced on him. Yet he wanted it, craved it so much it almost felt like dying to stay away... if simply staying away felt like that, how would letting him go entirely feel?

Mirage spent the empty days remembering how to weave, or wandering the lit corridors which linked his room, the energon storage, the pools, and the workroom and library Cyclonus had mentioned. Every now and then he would speak up, tell Unicron what he was thinking or doing, but the Planet Eater never answered. Mirage knew that Unicron heard him, was pretty sure the mech was even listening, but there was never a response. He wanted the mech to answer. He wanted to tell Unicron what else he had realized, what he had planned to say before the avatar had walked out.

Eventually Unicron couldn't ignore the presence within him anymore, it simply wasn't possible to forget Mirage, and not just because he kept speaking to him. He craved him in a way he did not understand, a way that scared Unicron, made his spark quail and flutter. 

"Mirage..." Unicron wasn't even sure if he was welcome anymore, would understand if he wasn't. Mirage had someone, or more than one, to return to, even if he did not know that he was welcome among them, he had life... Unicron had nothing but loneliness.

"There you are. I was beginning to wonder. Are you... alright, Unicron?" Mirage was, much as he shouldn't be, worried for the large mech. He pet the nearest wall, relaxing now that Unicron seemed to be talking to him again. "Do you want to... well, come visit?" He would like to see the mech 'in person', just because he still felt more comfortable that way.

"I function?" Unicron could hear the uncertainty in his own voice but hoped that Mirage wouldn't pick at it. He could hardly explain what he did not understand. 

"I would welcome some time with you." Elation surged in his spark, painful and hopeful all that once. Mirage still wanted his company; even if it was simply because he was the only one there, it made him happy. At least someone wanted him, for something.

Then why had Unicron spent so long 'avoiding' him, Mirage wondered. He chose not to ask, thinking it might go over better 'in person'. He would at least be able to see the Planet Eater's face! "Then come on. Your weaving is as you left it, and... I missed you..." He wasn't sure that Unicron was 'alright' in any sense, but again, that could wait a little.

"Missed me?" The words slipped, beyond Unicron's control as surprise and gratification spun like a new born galaxy in his spark. It was strangled ruthlessly only a moment later, he knew, or thought he knew, that Mirage could not mean that in the usual sense... There was no way he could miss his captor as anything but company in a lonely place. 

"I will be there soon." Withdrawing quickly, Unicron transferred to his avatar and walked slowly to his 'guest's' rooms. This was not a good idea, but he had nothing else to give, no other way to pay penance to Mirage.

Mirage waited, somewhat impatiently, for the avatar to arrive. He knew it wasn't worth talking until then, since Unicron wouldn't hear him. The moment the bronze-gold avatar entered, though, Mirage went over and embraced him, imitating the greetings friends on the Ark would give. "Yes, I missed you. I like talking to you, even if I'm not always sure that I should."

"Ah..." Unicron's arms hovered uselessly at his sides, fingers curling and uncurling as he attempted to figure out whether to return the embrace or shift Mirage away. In the end he carefully returned it, petting the smaller mech's back in a slightly jerky manner. 

"I... missed our conversation? I am not used to having company." The last was almost an apology for being so awkward at handling the situation, both before and now.

He almost pulled away, and then Unicron returned the gesture. The Planet Eater's touch was shockingly nice, and Mirage stayed where he was for several clicks longer than was 'proper' just to enjoy it. He couldn't stay there, though, he really couldn't, and so he finally pulled away. "I know. You're a lot like I was when we woke up on Earth. I didn't know how to relate... I'm still not the best. I- I need to confess something, though." He was only able to consider saying anything because of how ignorant Unicron was.

"Confess?" And again he was thrown for a loop, what could Mirage possibly have to confess to him? Nominally, he was the one in the wrong, Mirage had done nothing but having a dedicated friend. Things had taken a wrong turn; circumstances had merged and created this dilemma that should never have been, in an ideal world. 

"You have nothing to fear, Mirage, truly! I will not hold any actions or thoughts against you... this is a highly stressful situation." At least he thought it was, being held captive was usually described as stressful.

"Oh, I don't think you'll be angered by it!" Mirage assured Unicron. "It's... I don't think I'm very good for teaching you... how to socialize? Not just because I'm bad at it myself! Because if that was the issue, I'd teach you what I was taught and it would be enough. But... And I know you can't have noticed! It's... I find you..." Mirage's voice dropped as spoke, "attractive. Very much. Not just your avatar, either, Primus only knows why, but I thought you should... know." It wasn't... that bad of a thing, really. It might even be a good thing, if the other Autobots reacted as poorly as Mirage expected them too.

"Attractive?" Unicron stared down at the smaller mech, feeling that his avatar was slipping out of his control. Honest shock made him loose control of a merge he had thought was instinctive by now... it was the last thing, idea?, concept he had ever thought to experience. With the notable exception of 'love'.

That was... a very interesting reaction. Mirage was pleased that he wasn't actually touching the avatar, but he did have to admit that, now that he knew it was harmless, it was very interesting to watch the colors dim and brighten on the avatar's frame. More than a little creepy still, but interesting. "Yes, attractive. And I'm not sure if you can really hear me right now..." Hesitantly, Mirage brought his hand up until it rested lightly against Unicron's abdomen. He could feel the 'life' flickering under his digits.

"I... can..." With effort Unicron managed to get his avatar back under control, unnerved by the effect Mirage had on him. Just a simple sentence? Shaking his head, he took a step back and looked at Mirage, really looked at him.

"Why? I am... going to destroy something you care for? I will cause a rift between you and those you know. So... why?"

Mirage shrugged, not looking at Unicron. "Physically, you're... mmm, as attractive as I could ever want. Moreso." It was kind of frightening how much Mirage kept wanting to touch, to feel, to taste and hear Unicron in ways which were utterly indecent for as little as they knew each other. "You're... You don't _want_ to destroy Earth. You don't and I can tell that. The rift is... already there. I've already made the choice that will disgust them, horrify them. You're... nice."

"This makes no sense to me... you had, have no choice in the matter. You cannot offline me, so how could there be a choice." Unicron shook his head, sensor array moving agitatedly against his back. He did not wish to cause harm! Yet here he was, not only on his way to kill again, but ruining the life of an innocent mech, causing rifts were none should be... destroying. "I do not want to destroy anything! I am tired of being feared..."

"Honestly? They will still say I didn't try hard enough..." They were going to fight, going to defend Earth. Unicron might have to kill... Mirage didn't bring that up. He could deal with it when they reached Earth. Giving in to his own desired, Mirage moved around Unicron and tried to soothe the array, greatly enjoying the feel of it under his hand. "...I don't fear you."

The unexpected touch sent shudders though his avatar, great tremors of unknown, barely understood feelings. Mirage didn't fear him? Did that mean anything now, when he was going to do the worst one being could possibly do to another?

"Maybe not now..." Maybe it was wrong to want like this; Unicron had no basis of comparison. He wanted what Mirage could offer, friendship, companionship... more?

"Well... I am worried that I'll offend you. I'm... more or less molesting you..." It was so much not something proper. And... There was no-one to know. No-one would care. They could do what they wanted, and no-one would ever know unless told. Not that Mirage intended to do anything. "You didn't ask to be this. You didn't ask to be what you were. Wishing things were different isn't... going to make them different...."

"How can you offend someone who has only the barest of understanding of manners and social interactions?" Unicron shrugged, and choked when said move pressed his array further into Mirage's hands. Stumbling forward, he managed to get the sensitive ribs away from the exploring hands.

"Too sensitive!" The exclamation surprised him, or rather the tone of his voice did, raw and oddly vulnerable.

Immediately, Mirage moved his hands to the much safer shoulder-joint. Now that he had started, Mirage was unwilling to stop touching, as long as Unicron didn't object. "Easy. I can do something you don't want. Sorry about that, by the way. I let myself forget what they were..." Unicron felt good, sounded good... Mirage had not been lying, or even exaggerating, when he said that, physically, the avatar was just about everything he had ever wanted. That scared him, a little, but there was no way that it was Unicron's doing, he knew that.

"I wouldn't know, Mirage... I don't know what is acceptable or offending." A light trembling stayed in his avatar, a reaction to the continuing touch, even if it wasn't nearly as intensive any more. 

"I do not know what to do with these sensations..." Or with the confessions, on both sides. Intellectually he knew what two beings could do together, most beings at least. He knew about gender and about what beings like himself and Mirage's people called 'interfacing'. His avatar was created in his own image, a perfect copy, and his real self had been made functioning in that area too.

"It's... fine. Because you do not _mean_ offense, I... am not likely to take any. Though I'll tell you if you crossed a line. It... doesn't matter, you know? Acceptable, that is, proper. We could do... whatever we liked here, because no-one will know if we don't tell them... But I'm not sure I'm ready to do more." Mirage slipped his hands down, taking Unicron's hands. "When you made this... you didn't experiment with the sensations? You've never... been curious enough to try?"

"I did, but there was... nothing for me." He had touched, several texts said that it was an experience, and had felt nothing but a curiously detached gratification. Nothing of the strong emotions or surging pleasure those stories described.

"Oh. Um. But... your tactile sensors are working fine!" Maybe even too 'fine', from Unicron's earlier response, and just what had happened to the 'plan' to weave more? Not that Mirage was going to cut the conversation short... It was interesting, if slightly embarrassing and giving him far too much fantasy fodder.

"I lack something... I do not know what it is that makes this experience so pleasant for others but..." Unicron shrugged and lifted a hand, moving his fingers as if he had never seen them before.

"Not even in my real chassis does it feel... as described by any of the texts I have read."

"That... might have something to do with what you're reading..." Mirage commented. He wasn't sure what Unicron was reading, but... well, it was likely either encyclopedic texts or romance. Neither was the best for practical applications. "Well. I said I don't feel ready to do more now, and I mean that. But... I expect that will change. I just... need more time to think about stuff. In the meantime... Stripes?" He motioned at the looms weakly.

He expected it to change... Unicron decided he would function better if he did not think about that too much. Mirage didn't make the least bit of sense! Then again, this situation made no sense, it should never have happened... and he should not be happy that it had happened! But he was, he was happy he had gotten to know Mirage, confusing and stunning as the mech could be.

"Yes, let us return to weaving." Getting up, he walked to the loom, settling down again but not immediately starting to move the shuttle.

Mirage couldn't quite keep from petting Unicron's back, just between his array-joints, before sitting at his own loom. "Okay, do you want to do stripes on your cloth, or finish that one and start a new one?" Unicron answered, and soon enough the day went by. Mirage made sure to get Unicron's promise to come back tomorrow before letting the avatar walk away. Then he once again had to handle the effects of being aroused and half-worried that he was watched. Just like before, going invisible helped.

Again they found a pattern; there was no more talk of attractiveness or interfacing. Unicron was relieved, and let the seamless orns pass with leaning and talk. He learned more than just weaving, though he had no idea what his newly acquired social skills might give him... and distantly he felt the hold of his feelings slipping, though he did not feel any less for that. The corax continued to die, slower now then in the beginning but still inexorably moving towards the end. 

One orn he decided to clean his avatar thoroughly, Mirage was fast in recharge and there would be no interruptions. Immersing himself in a pool for a while, he allowed grime to soften before scrubbing himself. His thoughts wandered to the smaller mech, movements turning softer, and then his panel clicked open...

Mirage woke earlier than usual, laying on his 'berth' for a long moment with an amused thought that Unicron was very comfortable. He only stayed there for a moment, though, standing and stretching. He felt like cleaning off, and walked out the room comfortably enough. Unicron had taken to leaving the lights powered in the halls to the pools and the energon.

He trailed his hand against the wall on his way to the wash-pools, as had become his habit, and opened the wash-rack door. Mirage was half-way to the largest pool before he realized Unicron was there, his avatar, in bright colors. Moving and... moaning. Moaning in his gorgeous deep voice... "Oh! I- I'm sorry...!"

Turning fast, Unicron almost slipped, stabilizing himself by gripping the edge of the pool. His position was... compromising, one hand still wrapped around his spike, face plates frozen somewhere between pleasure, mortification, and surprise. The act in itself had surprised him, the fact that thinking about Mirage had changed something from merely 'interesting' into glorious... 

"M-mirage... ah, I..." Letting go of his spike and standing upright did not really help his mortification, he found that he could not retract and close his normally so biddable interfacing equipment. If anything his spike had become harder, more erect.

Oh. Oh, _Primus_. Unicron was... He was beautiful, bronze and grey and wet, spike large, perfect... Mirage approached, kneeling and reaching for the spike, making soft little whimpers. "Pretty. Pretty..." It was so pretty, so perfect. Mirage wanted it, but... But this was Unicron, and there were so many problems with this... if he wanted them to be there. Mirage realized he was touching the spike, whimpering, valve already dripping.

With a soft cry, Mirage pulled away, just enough that he wasn't touching the avatar, face turned away. "So perfect. Why...? You could be _made_ for me!"

If anything Mirage's reactions made him more confused, made his avatar hotter... Unicron moaned at the touch but had no idea what he should do about it, feeling a very physical disappointment when the hand was drawn back. 

"I need to go..." Somehow he had distressed Mirage again, he wasn't sure how other then the fact that... well, all the texts he had ever read was pretty clear that one only bared interface equipment in front of someone you were intimate with. Mirage could loosely be called a companion, but nothing more than that. Still... that did not seem to be the distressing part to the smaller mech. 

Backing away, Unicron kept his optics on Mirage until he had to climb out of the pool. "I... I am sorry for this..."

He couldn't dare look at Unicron, though he felt the other pulling away. Mirage did look up at the soft splash of water, just enough to see the avatar's pedes. He couldn't let the other think he had done anything wrong... "D- don't be. I don't- I don't need you to go. It's just..." Primus, he wanted that spike inside him, moving... at least, his chassis did. "My behavior was... I was acting... I was acting like a whore! And I don't- I don't know _why_ I find you so perfect. It's not- not your fault, you can't help how you're built. The avatar... has to match, you said that. So it's... it's just me." And it scared him, but what was there to do about it?

"Whore? No... not as I understand the term. You admired me... and find my avatar attractive." Unicron was disturbed to find that his voice was shaking, tone edge by static. He was unfamiliar with being so uncontrolled, with loosing grasp on any of his functions, even in as little a way as that. 

"There is nothing wrong with that! But nothing can come of it... you will need to go back and I will be alone again." Truth, and oddly painful. One of them had to say it though, it had to be said aloud for both of them to hear.

"Well, what else should I call it? I still don't know you, not enough for... for that, but I'd just... just roll over and-" Talking about it was not helping his control any, Mirage realized. Unicron's statement startled him enough to look up, meeting the now-familiar golden optics, and he was even able to mostly ignore the heavy arousal in Unicron's gaze. "First, long-term commitment is... not needed to enjoy pleasure. And second... I told you. They... won't welcome me." He had said that. Hadn't Unicron realized what it meant...?

"No! They must..." Ignoring the first confused sentence, Unicron made an aggressive 'stop' motion with his hands as if to ward of the second set of words. Or perhaps undo that it had been said. 

"You must return to them, they must accept what has happened, there is no other way!" Much as he was beginning to want to, he couldn't keep Mirage with him. The mech was... not like him, he wasn't...

Studying Unicron for a moment, Mirage finally huffed and slumped. It was clear that the Planet Eater wouldn't, or couldn't, hear what he was saying, meaning. "That... doesn't change the fact that commitment isn't needed for pleasure. I rather think the moment is past, though..." Mirage managed a weak smile, then moved into the pool. He would still like to know why Unicron was so 'made for him'... it was like a sparkling's tale, or maybe a priest's. Mirage had given up believing in either of those, though, vorns ago! Then again, he _was_ living in the Planet Eater... maybe he should reconsider the validity of sparkling's tales.

"I shall leave you alone." Unicron left the pool chamber for Mirage, attempting to ignore his interfacing equipment as well as possible. It didn't help, ignoring it that was, and he had to finish off what had started before he was finally able to close his panel again. It was still startlingly good compared to how it had felt when he first tried, but it was nothing like it had been when he accidentally started out. After a few breems, he felt stable enough to join the smaller mech for their usual activities. Not that he expected the stable part to last...

That day, Mirage managed to 'ignore' what had happened, what he had seen and done and said. He thought about it all the day, but kept himself in check as they fueled and wove and talked. The whole time, Mirage imagined, wanted. He was surprised Unicron couldn't smell his need, or was the Planet Eater just ignoring it? But when it was time for Unicron to leave... "You don't have to," Mirage said, as they stood, before the avatar turned to leave. His spark was fluttering, and Mirage tried to hide his fear. He was quite aware of what would probably happen if Unicron stayed.

"I... it would be foolish to give in." Unicron shook his head and half way turned from the smaller mech. What his avatar... well no, what his chassis might want was one thing, he couldn't afford to become attached to Mirage and he doubted he could prevent that if he had intimate relations with him. Things were hard enough already... knowing Mirage had caused him to rethink so many things. It had even made him consider if there wasn't another, more permanent, solution to this 'problem'.

Why did Unicron say that...? Oh. Because he thought Mirage wouldn't be staying. Mirage bit back a distressed moan at that, and nodded instead. "Then... I'll try not to ask again." Part of him wanted to ask if he could go home, wanting to prove that it wouldn't go as Unicron thought it would. Mirage didn't say that, though. He wanted to stay with Unicron, as long as he could... he was not entirely sure that his friends would be as unwelcoming as he feared. "... rest well."

Unicron didn't flinch, but it was a close call. He hadn't wanted to make Mirage unhappy and yet he seemed to have managed just that... It was only logical though, staying here wasn't an option for the smaller mech and sharing even 'only' physical pleasure would be too hard on them both in the end. Mirage might be attracted to him, but it wasn't, couldn't be, genuine.

"Recharge well."

Things kind of... stopped after that conversation. Mirage still taught Unicron, and soon there were rather poorly-made weavings hanging in Mirage's room, the work-room, even some of the hall-ways. But they never spoke about any form of relationship again, something that was very hard on Mirage. There was a tenseness when they were together, but it was even worse apart... The white and blue Autobot was almost glad when Earth came into view outside his window. Almost... and then he felt a new need rise up in him. He needed to go back.

"It is time for you to return home." Unicron had known it from the moment he had sensed Earth. He had not said anything as long as they could not see the planet, selfishly keeping Mirage with him for as long as possible. Now the world was looming close, taunting him with the decision he had to make...

"Cyclonus is waiting in the garden, he will take you home." Unicron would have loved to do it himself, so that he could tell what needed to be told. But Cyclonus had already 'prepared' the sentient beings on the world for what was to come... maybe. 

"I... I have to ask you..." Faltering, Unicron swallowed and slid his optics to the side, not quite able to meet the bright blue optics of his former 'captive'.

"The race of this world, those... humans? Are they worth defending?"

Well, Mirage thought a little distantly, at least he wouldn't have to convince Unicron about a visit... He didn't really look forward to interacting with Cyclonus again, but he could tolerate it... Unicron's question made Mirage frown. "I'm... not the best one to ask that. They... they're young. They're still splintered into many, many governments, many languages, many cultures. They started working out how to use electricity less than three vorns ago, and just managed to reach their moon. They can be frightfully violent, and frightfully friendly. My friends certainly think they're worth defending, and... well, I have risked my life against the Decepticons on humanity's behalf often enough..." Mirage shrugged a little, unhappily.

"Why? You're... not going to be destroying the race, this time. You... found someplace for us to take them, right? Or you will..." He knew Unicron wasn't happy with what would happen... Mirage wasn't very happy about it either, but it was better than the alternative!

"I will keep my promise..." Unicron nodded, just a little bit hurt that Mirage would still think him capable of breaking his word. 

"I will keep it, and you will have time. Live well, Mirage." For the first time since the smaller mech had told him he disliked it, Unicron left his avatar while Mirage was still in the room. He didn't want any more questions or... anything. His processor was made up.

He was going to say something. Promise to return, or thank Unicron, or something. The graying of the avatar precluded any words Mirage might say, and he shivered a little as he looked at it. The avatar really did look dead... but he knew it wasn't. Not permanently... He touched it, cautiously, finding nothing but cold metal. Mirage stroked the face, the shoulders, those smaller-scale planet destroying pincers... Trembling, Mirage leaned up and forward, kissing the dead lips, and then he drew back, looking at the still avatar. That had probably been a foolish action...

Mirage came into the nearly ruined garden some breems later, practically running, one of the hangings Unicron had made thrown about his shoulders like a cloak. He yanked it off and started folding it as he came to a stop by Cyclonus. "I want something... something to remember him by. I thought this would be safe enough. I would have asked him, but..." Mirage indicated the landscape, shrugging. Unicron didn't seem to want to speak with him any longer.

"I presume you are ready to depart." Cyclonus didn't think Unicron would mind the loss of the fabric, and he knew full well that his master would have made it known if he objected. He doubted that he would be welcomed back to the world, but that was beside the point. His mission was to deliver Mirage safely to his kin.

"... Yeah. Could you happen to take me back where you found me...?"

Cyclonus could, as it turned out, and did so with minimal fuss. Mirage watched as Unicron grew smaller with distance, obscurely glad that the Planet Eater never entirely faded from sight. Before long, Mirage was standing in a caldera he barely recognized, surrounded by vibrant and living corax crystals. It was beautiful... and Mirage screamed.


	6. Chapter 6

Cyclonus really didn't pay any heed to the smaller mech, preparing to leave the doomed world behind as he had done with so many others, when he was stopped by a message from Unicron. Despite his frozen spark, he reacted by falling to his knee joints, shock too much for his processor to handle. Not even the scream registered.

In space, the planet that was Unicron started moving again, leaving the young solar system behind as slowly as he had arrived at it. His course was set and his decision taken, the Universe could exist without him... maybe it would even be a better place.

The intruder alarms brought people faster than the scream did, but no-one could quite work up the courage to approach a visibly distraught Mirage and a completely blank mech they recognized as the 'Herald'. Mirage himself didn't notice the others at all, looking at the corax and fighting the irrational urge to smash something. Cyclonus' collapse _did_ catch his attention, mostly because he knew how out of character it was for the frozen mech.

"Why are you still here?" The words were addressed to Cyclonus, but Mirage wasn't quite looking at him, reaching for a crystal with a hand which shook. The corax was the start of it all, everything which had happened lately... He wondered if he would have stopped Cosmos if he had known what the theft would bring. Mirage liked to think he would have.

"Unicron has left." Cyclonus stood up slowly, large purple armored chassis still trembling faintly as the emotionless mech attempted to cope with having his only handhold in reality yanked away. It had nothing to do with emotions, though it might well seem that way.

"He is on his way to Betelgeuse..."

That got Mirage's full attention, and Windcharger, who had been coming closer, stopped in confusion. "Left? Going to... Betelgeuse?" Mirage repeated, optics flickering. "Why is he- What happened to- isn't he missing something? Why would he leave now, he-" Mirage motioned vaguely at the healthy crystals surrounding them, beautiful and vibrant and killing what was left on Unicron, turning him into something he didn't want to be.

"He wishes to end it." Cyclonus steadied himself and clenched his hands into firsts. Unicron was the only thing that had kept him online, without the eternal one he would see nothing but a slow decline into a state where both his chassis and spark was forever frozen. 

"I will journey with him." There was too many mechs in the caldera now for him to take off from it. Turning, he walked towards the wall, intending to climb out of there.

End... end it? End it? Did Cyclonus really mean... Mirage watched the purple mech climb out of the caldera, feeling as frozen as Cyclonus' spark. By the time he realized that Cyclonus really did mean what Mirage feared, it was too late. The mech was gone. 

Now Mirage turned, looked at the mechs surrounding him, wildly searching. "Cosmos! Where's Cosmos, please tell me he's on Earth, please!"

In a matter of breems, Cosmos was found, near enough to be recalled. Mirage was in agony while he waited, ignoring every question put to him. He knew that if he began to talk, to explain, he would fall apart, or they would keep him, not let him go. He couldn't risk that, and ran to Cosmos when the other landed. "Cosmos! You need to take me to Unicron, please! I- I'll explain later, I promise, but there's no time for that now!"

"But..." Cosmos transformed, of course he was going to help his friend! Mirage had been gone for so long, the only news of him given by that strange and cold mech they knew only as 'the Herald'. The former noble seemed to know him as more than that, seemed almost desperate to follow the being... the monster of many a mech's sparklinghood. They had barely understood it when the Herald came and declared that Earth would be devoured for the 'crime' done against Unicron. Nothing made sense! 

"I'm ready..." No, nothing made sense, but Mirage was distraught and obviously needed go back to... back to Unicron. It seemed that the planet eater was as real as Cybertron.

It was a fairly tight fit, Cosmos was not as large as Cyclonus, but Mirage didn't even think of complaining. There was enough room for him, that was what mattered. "Thank you, Cosmos. I'm sorry about doing this to you. I'll explain everything when I get the chance, I promise." Assuming they both survived. Mirage didn't intend to follow Unicron, not that far, even if he couldn't change the Planet Eater's mind... "He's really a very nice mech. I know that sounds weird."

"The herald or the planet eater?" Cosmos was confused and still didn't quite get why he was chasing after a being that had threatened to destroy Earth only to decide not to all of a sudden. 

"I hope it's a good explanation, Mirage, right now I am so confused it's a wonder I can navigate!"

"Hm? Oh, no, the Planet Eater! Cyclonus is... weird. He's not nice _or_ mean, just... is. Unicron, though... he's nice." Mirage was acutely aware of how odd that sounded. "It is a good explanation, I swear. There's... there's just not enough time for it now." Mirage pet Cosmos, then looked out the window. He could see Cyclonus, barely, and resisted the urge to wave.

"If you say so..." The herald had scared him, Cosmos had never seen so cold and dead looking optics on any being in his entire existence. He couldn't imagine Unicron being 'nice', the being ate planets! How was that nice? 

"We'll be there in a moment... he isn't moving very fast."

Mirage laughed weakly, nodding. "I don't really think he _can_. He is a full-sized planet, after all..." Why hadn't Unicron told him, though? To protect him? It would almost be sweet, except that Mirage was so totally angry with the large mech. Mirage fell into thought, and stayed there until Cosmos landed. Scrambling out, he wasn't surprised to find they had landed by the dying garden. Could Unicron hear him from here? Mirage wasn't sure, and didn't want to try so close to Cosmos... "Listen. He's trying to kill himself. So if he gets too close to Betelgeuse, go ahead and leave. Though I don't anticipate it being a real worry..." He would stop Unicron before that. ...Or leave the Planet Eater to his fate.

"I don't..." Cosmos transformed and halfsparkedly glared after his friend. As far as he could see, Unicron dying would be the best solution, but obviously Mirage had a different opinion. It would have been nice to know why!

With a smile as weak as Cosmos' glare, Mirage moved away, deeper into the garden. Deeper into the mess of dying, rule-breaking corax, and closer to a wall. Unicron was aware of them, Mirage was sure. Unicron had to be aware of them... " _Unicron_! You- you coward! You couldn't even tell me‽ Unicron! _Talk_ to me, fraggit!" Please... he had to be aware, had to hear him. Please.

"It is not your concern." Unicron almost cringed at how cold he sounded, like Mirage didn't matter at all. Which was quite the opposite of the truth... 

"Would you rather I destroy Earth? I can already feel my emotions slipping away; it is either this or the planet... I chose this, I will not destroy another world with sentient beings living on it." Pleading, he was begging for the small mech to understand, even if it might not sound that way. Mirage had to let him go, had to forget him and go.

"It is _too_ my concern! I can't accept those are the only options, there _has_ to be another choice! Another way..." There had to be. There had to be, because Mirage couldn't answer Unicron's question, because if he did, Mirage would have to hate himself. "Please... there has to be..." He'd never be able to live with the Autobots, they would probably never understand his grief... but Mirage knew he'd never be able to leave the corax. Assuming it survived Unicron's destruction. But the other option... surely that was worse! Mirage knew it should be...

"If there was, don't you think I would take it, Mirage? This is an unnatural state for me, I wasn't made to feel... I am a force of destruction, I was for a brief moment something else, but now I must stop it all. I will not destroy again!" Desperation echoed in his own voice, he didn't want to die! But it was better than to destroy again.

"Please, Mirage, go back. Go back and live, I am not worth this. I am not worth any grief, for my existence has been nothing but a fluke."

"Yes you are! You are worth it! I'm not- I won't stop you! It- it's your choice. But you need to know what will happen!" Mirage wished the avatar was here, wanted something to hold as he spoke, but it was only a passing desire, not very important. "Now that I've met you... I don't know how much I can live without you. I was never going to leave you, not only because of my friends' reactions. I want to be with you..." He wouldn't even have memories of pleasure with Unicron, just regrets and missed chances... Mirage tried not to think about that.

"To live I would have to destroy earth! Or I would turn into the unfeeling monster I was created as... there would be nothing for you to be with, I can't both save Earth and myself." It hurt to hear the small mech say those things, this was not what he had wanted! Unicron felt lost, the simple decision he had made wavering under the complications he had attempted to avoid.

Mirage dropped to his knees, petting Unicron's surface. There was no way around it... "Can- I want to live with you. Even if it's... just until you reach Betelgeuse. I want to be with you. Like a lover. A mate. Even if we can only have joors... Let me have that with you! I- I love you, Unicron... I don't know how, or even why, or when- I don't care! I love you, and I want some time with you, no matter how little it is! Do you understand me, Unicron?"

Spark jolting with something not entirely unlike pain, Unicron felt like he was cut loose for a moment. He... could give that, if it was what Mirage wanted, what he needed to live on afterwards. 

"Only if you swear to leave me after! I will not have your death on my conscious too..." And he could not return the declaration, he did not know what love felt like after all.

He relaxed, just a little. He would have that much, at least. Memories of touching, tasting, feeling... "I will... leave, before you... finish it. And I will work to _live_ when I am I alone... I promise. I swear it, Unicron..." Once again, Mirage pet the ground, and then he stood, shakily. "I need to tell Cosmos... I need to explain to him a little. At least if we want him to stay to take me! I know Cyclonus would, but... I don't want to ask him to live without you..." Unsteadily, Mirage turned to find Cosmos again.

'Gone', Unicron hadn't questioned the return of his herald. He understood why Cyclonus did not want to stay behind... it was Mirage he didn't understand. But he could give what was asked of him, if it meant that the small mech would live after. 

"Can we leave now?" Cosmos had tried to ignore the silent form of the herald, had tried to ignore that he was standing on the 'planet eater'. It wasn't going too well.

"...No. I know it's selfish of me, but- well, _I'm_ staying here. Not- to the very end, but until just before that. I'm going to stay and- I love him, Cosmos. I love him, and I'm going to stay with him for... as much time as I can. And I know you have all sorts of questions, so I'll do my best to explain..." Mirage started at the beginning, sketching out the basics of why he was there and why Unicron had even threatened Earth. He didn't know how to explain why he loved the Planet Eater, though... He wasn't sure there was a 'why'.

Cosmos couldn't say he understood, but when had feelings ever made sense? Mirage was... always the misfit, if he was happy with Unicron didn't he, as a friend, need to support him?

"I'll stay... you need me to... yeah. Just..."

Mirage relaxed a little, enough to embrace Cosmos in a friendly manner. "Thank you. Thank you, Cosmos. Um... I would suspect that Cyclonus could show you around..." Mirage was aware of how _completely_ unfair he was being, dragging Cosmos here and then leaving him, but... He would have too little time with Unicron as it was, and would only steal from that time if he had to. "I suspect Unicron will be in his avatar most of the time- well, you probably don't care to get to know him anyway..."

Joy... but he sort of understood Mirage's need to go to Unicron. Watching the once-noble walk off, Cosmos huffed slowly and the turned to look at the silent, cold herald. 

"So..."


	7. Chapter 7

Unicron had made sure his course was steady and then activated his avatar. It was deep within his chassis, and there was a long way to the surface, if he was lucky Mirage would go to meet him. This was all so surrealistic, like a novel and yet so unlike anything he had ever encountered in writing. Star-crossed lovers indeed.

He knew the way from the gardens to his room, and Mirage followed the path, feeling only a little guilty about leaving Cosmos. He was going to hug Unicron, Mirage decided. And kiss him, a real kiss, to living derma. And then more, as much more as he could get from the Planet Eater. And he wouldn't think about how soon it would end, he would only think of them, together and happy, the way it should be.

The lights were still on in the corridors Mirage had used, Unicron had seen no reason to change the habits he had gotten while the small mech lived with him. Reaching the lighted areas he huffed and halted, uncertain again if this was a good idea in any way. He wanted it... but wasn't it a selfish want? Shouldn't he rather make Mirage leave, would the memories not be more of a burden then regrets could ever be... it wasn't his choice though. Not anymore.

Unicron was not in 'his' room, and Mirage decided to risk looking around, doubting the living area was so large as to make missing Unicron a real threat. He found the avatar near the energon storage, one of the rooms furthest from the surface, and Mirage's plans vanished. "U- unicron?"

"What if you are wrong... what if regrets are easier to live with then memories?" Unicron whispered his question, golden optics locked on the small mech that had returned to him. He wanted all the things he couldn't have, and they were all the more desirable for being lost already.

Mirage shook his head, stopping just within Unicron's reach. "I'm not. We- the Autobots, have lost a lot. I hear people, all the time, wish they had taken a chance, regret what they've missed. I've... not heard one say he wishes he had turned from his chance, miss the memories he lives with..." He was pleased he could answer that question, really. "Anyway. I... have enough regrets in my life. I'm tired of regret. I want something different."

"I'm not... I do not know how to be your different memory, Mirage, show me?" Unicron reached out, offered his hand to the smaller mech. What was being asked of him was so different, so strange... far past what personal experience he had with interactions. Mirage would have to lead for a time.

He took the hand, rubbed his face against it, and walked closer, close enough to wrap his arm around Unicron's waist. "I'll show you. I'll enjoy showing you..." Standing on the tips of his pedes, Mirage pulled himself up and kissed Unicron again, living metal this time... "Maybe not here, though? Not that it really matters."

"The pools?" Unicron accepted that it was going to happen, who was he to tell Mirage no? He was taking what was called the 'coward's way out'. If there was any other solution he would have taken it, but he refused to be a monster any longer. 

"You seem to like them and... we almost came together there." If he hadn't stopped them, he still thought he had done the right thing then. This time Mirage had thought it over, this time there could be no regrets save the lack of time.

Mirage smiled at the memory, and heated up. They wouldn't stop this time... "Yes. That's a very fitting idea... and I do like them. A lot..." He didn't pull away from Unicron, even though he knew the Planet Eater was actually surrounding him. It was just easier to treat the avatar as the whole... Mirage lay his head against the broadly-sculpted chest, taking advantage of the chance to be close to... his beloved.

It felt odd but good, and he was reluctant to have the smaller mech draw away again. It was an easily solvable problem though, Mirage was light and easy to scoop up and carry off. It didn't take long to find the pool room nor did it take long to enter one of them and settle down.

"You feel nice against me." A part of this was... complimenting each other, right? Unicron wasn't quite sure how to do that.

He made a happy sound as Unicron actually carried him, and just very selfishly clung while he was settled into the water. He would miss this, Mirage already knew that, but he was also glad he was _getting_ it. "T- thank you. You... feel nice against me, too. ...Did you know I kissed you, before I left?" Mirage wanted to know if Unicron had noticed, and it was something to talk about as he slowly let his hands roam around the large, bulky frame.

"You did? No... I had... I couldn't watch you leave." It didn't matter any to admit his weakness, Mirage would likely not judge him on it. Despite them not acting on what was between them, it had been painful to let the small mech leave. Too painful, which had been part of his decision to end it rather than cause more harm to innocent beings. 

"I like it? It is... strange to feel like this, unfamiliar and powerful."

"I did. I thought you would come back to the avatar and taste me on you..." Mirage shrugged a little, nuzzling against Unicron again. "Arousal is a very powerful thing, isn't it? Makes you feel... hot?" It should make the avatar feel hot, Mirage was already feeling hot enough. "Like you want to do something? Do you know what you want to do?"

"Yes... no? I..." Unicron shook his head and frowned, confused at the idea of 'tasting' anyone. He had already explained to Mirage that he wasn't very good at 'senses' as the smaller mech understood them.   
"I want to touch you, I do feel hot and my panel is tight again like that... like before you surprised me that cycle."

"That's good. That's normal. Go ahead and touch, I'll tell you when you do well. You can open this anytime you want to..." A little nervous, Mirage rubbed his palm against Unicron's panel, humming appreciatively when his touch confirmed Unicron's words. "It's arousal. Feels good, doesn't it? Well, at least one of us knows how this happens..." Mirage was pretty sure Unicron knew the mechanics, he had mentioned something like that? but yeah. Emotions, feeling... He had to remember that his lover didn't get those, not yet. Not ever. They would part- Mirage pushed the knowledge away.

"It's different from reading of it..." Unicron didn't hesitate to touch, having wanted to do it for a long time. Mirage was delicate, felt delicate to him. All smooth surfaces and warmth, not at all like his own real chassis with it's cold and meteorite pitted surface. He knew his avatar was different, but it was his planet chassis he knew the best, felt the best. It wasn't really a question of 'allowing' his panel to open, but rather a fact that he could not keep it shut any longer.

"Yeah... very different. Mmm... feels good. Your hands, I mean." Mirage purred when Unicron's panel opened, and kept right on touching. His other hand was around Unicron's shoulder, petting his back a little. "Books are fun, but not the most accurate." He smiled again, then let his panel open as well, to give Unicron something more to touch. "I had to masturbate while I lived here. I was embarrassed, half afraid you'd watch even though I knew you wouldn't... I wouldn't mind now."

"Mind me watching? Am I not watching now or..." Intimacy was as confusing as feelings in general. Unicron wondered at the differences in wishing and doing, or in this case reading about and doing, as he carefully glided his hands lower and touched the smaller mech's open panel. Mirage was real... he was here and he was very real and warm and beautiful...

Mirage laughed softly, then kissed Unicron and rocked against his hand. "No... no, you're not 'watching' now, love... This isn't watching, this is doing. Very different..." Very different, and much better... "I want to feel you in me, Unicron. Do you want to be in me?" Mirage remembered the spike, Unicron's lovely and perfect spike... "But I'm going to need preparation. Fingers..." He wasn't sure how much time they had, and that was the one thing Mirage wanted the most. After that, they could do other things, all else that there was to do... But Mirage wanted to feel Unicron first.

"I... do?" More confusion, the question in and of itself making him feel hotter as well as making him attempt to puzzle out the actual meaning. Penetration? That would explain the 'preparation' comment, he was very large compared to the slim being on his lap. 

"You wish to feel me... here?" Gently touching what he assumed to be the valve opening, he was not all that versed in anatomy, not even his own, he questioned the smaller mech.

"Ooh~" Mirage moaned, rocking against Unicron's hand. "Mm, yes. Want you in there." The Planet Eater's confusion was pretty easy to see, and Mirage smiled at him, cupping his cheek in one slender hand. "What do you think of that idea?" He wanted Unicron to enjoy too, after all. "Lay me out on the edge of the pool, maybe? I'd like to see you above me, your array all out- Maybe I have too many ideas." He very likely did... he'd like to be laid out, or sit on Unicron, or taste him...

"It confuses me." Unicron smiled hesitantly and turned his head into the small hand, gently attempting to nibble on a digit. He couldn't say he really minded being confused though, all in all Mirage was making him hot and aroused. As far as he understood things that was part of interfacing, intimacy like this?

"I would like to do all of those things, but I don't quite know or understand how. I don't want to hurt you."

He smiled at Unicron, letting the Planet Eater nip at him. Sharp, strong denta, models of the real things... "Don't worry. I'll show you how. I'll teach you everything. And I won't let you hurt me. I promise..." Mirage rocked against Unicron again, stroking his bared, heated equipment and trying to coax his spike out. "Trust me."

A low rumbling groan surprised Unicron as it worked itself free of his vocalizer in response to Mirage's words and touches. His spike slid out, pressurizing slowly, not because he wasn't plenty aroused, it had just always been like that... his reactions were slower then those described in the pads he had read, maybe because of this not being his real form. Maybe because his real form was so big, there could be a lot of reasons. 

"I do trust you, Mirage, in this and in all else. I am however very aware of how big I am compared to you."

"I just like to hear it..." Mirage admitted, just a little embarrassed. "Mm... you are big. I need your finger first, need some stretching." This time, he took the time to properly touch the spike extending into his hand, touch it and learn it... He was quite hot enough to just lay back and beg, but Unicron needed to be walked through this, shown how it really went. And Mirage didn't really want to hurt himself by taking too much too soon...

"Fingering? Mmm... read about that, are you certain my claws won't cause you harm?" Not that he didn't have any control over them. It was just... they were sharp and the valve was reputedly a delicate piece of equipment. So many sensor nodes in a relative small space. 

"Are you certain this is what you want? I will not be angry if you wish to wait..."

Mirage smiled, but he also squirmed in need. "You'll be careful. Just start with one. I'll tell you when to add another. I _want_ this, Unicron, I want to feel you in me..." His voice shook a little, from desire. "Here..." Pecking Unicron again, Mirage pulled himself out of the water, sitting on the very edge of the pool. "I'll lay back here, and you can touch and finger me, and I'll tell you how you're doing." He took Unicron's hand and pressed it against his valve lightly. "Go ahead."

If Mirage had been the least bit hesitant or fearful... but he wasn't, he was the opposite in fact. The unfamiliar heat rose further and Unircon stood up, leaned over the smaller mech to kiss him even as he did as told. The slick heat was strange to feel, the little ripples of the tight passage made it feel almost alive around his finger.

Glad he was laying back already, Mirage moaned, smiling up at Unicron dizzily. "Ooh, yeah. Ooh, feels good. Been so long since I had anything in me... Can you unfurl your array? I want to see it..." He did, to see it, be surrounded by his lover... Mirage squirmed, clenching his valve around the claw, carefully so, just to see Unicron's reaction.

A flare of hunger made Unicron's spark, avatar spark and planetary spark, swell, the dual feeling surprising the planet eater. It was the first time his real chassis had reacted to something his avatar had done, was doing. A smile of wonder curled his derma plates for a moment before he unfurled his sensor array and stretched it out for Mirage.

Mirage just gasped, arching a little at the trails of energy he felt through his back and through the avatar. "Yeesss... You're gorgeous. So strong, so sexy... mm..." Once again he arched, rocking against Unicron's finger needly. "Try- try another? Carefully..." As he spoke, Mirage reached up, wanting to feel the array under his hands again, if Unicron could take it. He was well aware that his lover might not be able to process it, same as before.

Despite wanting to do the things Mirage asked for, Unicron had to stop entirely at the touch to his array. Just like in his real chassis it was full of sensors, sensors that were now at their peak readiness as well as overly agitated from the energy surges his arousal caused.

It was both like and unlike the first time the smaller mech had touched it, unlike because this time he could see no reason to hide the effect... baring his fangs he growled and, comparatively gently, pulled his single claw out only to press two back in slowly.

He whimpered, unconsciously baring more of his throat for Unicron and spreading his legs further. Mirage rocked hard against Unicron's hand, optics flickering as sensations traveled through him, hands tightening carefully around the array. He still thought it wasn't quite fair how perfect Unicron was for him, and then he had the absolutely lovely thought that maybe he was just as perfect for Unicron. "Please... please! Feels so good... Move them? Please..."

Leaning further down, more on instinct then because he thought it over, Unicron shifted from possessive growl to appreciative purr. There was just something abut having the smaller mech trapped under him, spread out for him... only for him. At least for the next few groons, Mirage was his, all his, and when they said their final goodbye he would know that the small mech would live on. 

"Move... like this?" Carefully pulling his fingers back, he paused teasingly, with only the very tips of his claws still at the valve rim, sending the small mech a questioning glance.

He liked that, Mirage decided. So much of his lover was in reach... Mirage was blindsided when Unicron turned playful, and he tried to squirm down to get the dang claws back in him. He couldn't do that without falling off the ledge, though, and Mirage had to give it up, which left him trying to pout at Unicron. "You're teasing me! Move them again, Unicron, please... they feel so good in me, almost as good as I think your spike will..."

"Yes..." Well, he was teasing, it was part of physical intimacy and he liked doing it. At least he had just figured out that he liked it, decision based solely on Mirage's reaction. Still Unicron granted what his... his lover was asking for, great care still showing how nervous he was past his arousal driven wish to experiment.

"Mm... Well, long as you deliver... so nicely... I guess you can tease..." Mirage moan out, valve rippling around the invading digits. He would just have to tease Unicron in return... later. Not now. Now he could touch the array, stroke Unicron's neck and shoulders and chest, and thoroughly enjoy being smaller and slimmer than his lover. "You're doing so well..."

"As long as you enjoy it." That was really all that concerned Unicron, his own enjoyment vicariously clinging to the fact that he was being enjoyed. Or at least that his actions were, his chassis. Mirage had told him he was everything he had ever looked for in a lover, he still did not quite understand that....

"What more? Tell me how to make it better..."

"I love you. ...Love this, too..." He would like to hear that Unicron loved him, too, but wouldn't ask for it, aware that Unicron really couldn't be sure of his own emotions. "Touching you, like I imagined... I could take you now, I think... If you go slow... Or you can tease more, explore..." He was horrible at knowing what he wanted in the throws of his own desire, and Mirage hoped that Unicron wouldn't mind too much.

To him it would be easy to say the word back, it would not be easy to put emotions behind it. Unicron dipped a little and kissed the smaller mech instead, hesitantly adding a third claw to the wet heat of his valve. This wouldn't be tainted by falsities, even if they might have soothed, or at the very least have made the smaller mech happy, he did not want to lie even for that.

"Are you sure I will not hurt you?" The question was asked with their dermas only barely parted and he didn't truly give Mirage a chance to answer before taking them again.

"Am sure," Mirage gasped out, arching into the claws and mewling. At this rate, he was going to overload before Unicron got anything in... that might be a wise idea. It wasn't one he could properly contemplate, though, distracted with his own pleasure. He wasn't going to have a choice soon... Mirage, as much as he could, kept his gaze on Unicron, watching his lover for every expression, every sign of pleasure. Maybe even proof that his lover felt what he couldn't say...

He wanted more, there was no use in denying the wants he felt and yet... and yet he enjoyed seeing the smaller mech come undone just by the feel of his claws in him. Just how undone could he make him? Overload? What would that look like, sound like... smell like? It wasn't till the thought came to him that he realized how much the scents Mirage was giving off affected him. His processor was hazy, the urge to claim overwhelmingly strong, and through it all wove a thread of something so strong it held his awakening feral side back, the side that destroyed indiscriminately.

Wanted. He was wanted. Unicron wanted him. If nothing else, Unicron felt lust for him, and that was certainly enough for Mirage. He pulled the Planet Eater as close as he could, desperate for something, someone, to hold to as overload tore through him. The three claws suddenly felt much larger, and Mirage managed to hope that he didn't hurt Unicron.

The sound startled himself, Unicron had not known that he was capable of making a sound that was both so sated and hungry at once. He didn't even have a name for it. There was just something about seeing this, this overload as it ravaged Mirage's features, made him look both angry and peaceful. He did not pull out, or still, his fingers till it was entirely over, it took longer then he had thought it would.

"Was that good?" He thought nothing of licking his claws clean, past purring at the slightly bitter taste.

"Yes. Oh, yes. Ooh, Unicron. Very good..." Mirage matched Unicron's purr, then pulled himself up and kissed Unicron, fond of his taste on his lover's derma. "Give me a moment, and I'll be ready for another go... and you won't have to be afraid, love. You've stretched me so nicely..." Mirage stroked against Unicron's broad back, back against his sculpted abdomen to his erect spike. Simply touching it was enough to start Mirage revving again.

Strangling the urge to again ask if the smaller mech was sure, Unicron simply nuzzled him. He moaned at the touches and jerked a little when the slim hands cupped his spike. It was much more sensitive to Mirage's touch then it had ever been to his own. Just as thinking about Mirage had made self service worth the time... even if he hadn't been allowed to finish up. 

"It does not sound like you need a very long moment."

"It's so perfect..." Mirage moaned, rubbing the spike in his hand and rocking his hips in anticipation. "Kiss me. Kiss me please, and fill me..." Yes, and then he would feel his lover, feel him in the second most intimate way one mech could feel another. Maybe then the edge of frantic desperation would fade, because it was really very annoying.

"Hmm..." shifting carefully on the slick flooring of the pool, Unicron followed the 'orders' he had been given. Kissing was no hardship, but the 'penetration' part worried him. Mirage felt very, very small as he pressed the tip of his erect spike to the tiny valve opening.

Unicron moved slowly, as Mirage had known he would, and the former noble tried his best to relax, to wait patiently. He knew his body needed it... Mirage moaned into the kiss, valve rippling around the spike as though it were trying to pull the spike deeper in. Deeper, oh, yes please! Yes, yes... "Yes...! In... in please..."

"You are small." It was a statement, logical but not cold, just fact and a signal that he wasn't going to hurry this. If there was one thing Unicron was terrified of, it was accidentally hurting the smaller mech, delicate little Mirage. That was partly why he could not see them ever being happy, not even if the corax hadn't been dying... they were too different, and for all he knew he was immortal, with no natural end to his lifespan, unlike Mirage.

"I know," Mirage agreed. "I'm encouraging. Oooh, feels so _good_..." Redundant? Maybe, but it was also truthful, and it gave Mirage something else to think about for a moment. Just for a little while, and then Mirage jerked a little and wrapped his arms around Unicron to hold him where he was. The Planet Eater had managed to fully seat himself, and Mirage had to admit it was just on the edge of too much. On the edge, but not there. He wouldn't be able to take anything larger without pain, but Unicron was, again, perfect for him.

Nuzzling the smaller mech, Unircron finally lost to the urge to bite. Just a tiny careful one, more a scrape of sharp dental then any actual biting. He had wanted to do it ever since he first leaned over the prone mech, the trust implied in such an action... But love? How could that have happened, he was a monster! He had killed countless beings, countless cradles of life... how could anyone love him?

Mirage's vents hitched and his processor stalled for a brief moment. He was quite sure he had felt the touch of Unicron's fangs... The Autobot mewled, clenching his valve and looking at Unicron with hazy optics. "Yess... Ooh, yes. I love you." He knew he was repeating that a lot, but... he needed to say it, he needed Unicron to hear it. To understand it, if he could, before he left... "M- move? Just a little..."

Those words were both daunting and inflaming, Unicron couldn't truly bring himself to wish for his... lover to stop saying them. It would have been so much easier if he could have, then he would not have had the additional worry of hurting Mirage on his shoulders. No matter what he did now it would hurt the mech, all he could do was give him this, give him those memories he had asked for... his course was laid in, he had time. A little time. 

"As you command." Moving, he smiled against the delicate neck joint, idly wondering if Mirage would ever know that he was the only one to hear the Planet Eater obey an order.

"Yes!" Mirage screamed, optics flashing white. "Ooh, good! Me? Do I... make you feel good, love? Please? Want to hear..." He wanted to hear that Unicron enjoyed him, wanted to know that... that his lover would actually enjoy this time together, really and fully. After all, if Unicron enjoyed it, he would be so much more likely to initiate the interfacing...

What did he feel? Unicron felt a lot of things, the physical reaction of having the gorgeous and willing mech under him. The warmth and tight slickness of the valve around his spike. Mental desire, want, possessiveness and a lot of things he wasn't sure what to name or did not dare to name. Mirage was only asking for the physical part right now though, he could easily respond to that. 

"I do enjoy you, your scent, your tightness... but I am not like you, Mirage, I cannot loose control or I will not be here." A tacit warning, all he could and dared give. It did not mean he couldn't overload or feel pleasure, just that he could not abandon himself as his partner did. 

"You make me feel... so many things."

Hand shaking a little, Mirage cupped Unicron's face, smiling at him. "Then hold me while I give up control..." A gift he could give to his lover, along with his understanding of Unicron's limits. "Move harder? Faster. I'm used to your size now. I'll be fine." He kept rolling his hips, unable to stop himself and not seeing any reason to even try.

Those were all things he could do, could give, and he did. Pleasure surged in his avatar and he had to fight it, to keep in control, frightening Mirage wasn't high on his wish-to-do list either. He was grateful for the smaller mech's understanding, wishing he could give more, that he could trust his own judgment on what he felt. That he dared name his feelings at all. 

"Let go then, I shall be here to catch you..." Leaning down for a brief kiss, he carefully returned his attention to the slim neck, satisfying one selfish little kink.

He had never had a lover promise to catch him like that. Many had tried to make him let go, but Mirage had always held back. He had never felt that he could trust them... Unicron was different. As illogical as it was, Mirage knew he was safe with the Planet Eater, utterly safe. He spared a moment to wonder when he had come to accept that, and then he let go. The universe became much smaller, until it was just Unicron and him, and the pleasure surging between them. Mirage didn't worry about his reactions, about how he looked or sounded or felt, surrendered to sensation and emotion.

Mirage had always been beautiful, in his delicate way, but this was something else. It transcended beauty as it transformed a sentient being into something that existed solely to feel. So many questions... Unicron knew he would never ask them, but they were there, questions about the past... the present, and a future they did not have. He would give up everything to have a life with Mirage, but that was not enough. If the universe were to be safe, he had to pay another kind of price... giving up Mirage.

"So beautiful..."

Words. Praise. More which caused pleasure. If there was enough pleasure, something more would happen, Mirage knew that. He knew it as much as he knew anything else, at least. There was a need in him... A need, and a spike, and he was surrounded by a gorgeous, warm mech who would give whatever would fill that need. Mirage rocked, and moaned, and gave incoherent pleas on just the edge of the more.

A surge of physical feelings nearly shook his hold of himself, the curious feeling of his own fluids pumping into the smaller mech, almost made him pull out. Overload was far nearer to the descriptions he had read this time, even though he could not truly 'surrender' to it. He wished he could, but that would mean losing control of the avatar, leaving Mirage with what the smaller mech identified as an offline mech.

That was what he had needed, and Mirage welcomed the sensations which overran him. He felt a little broken afterwards, and held on to Unicron, mewling a little. He needed to be held now, needed to recover before even considering doing more with his- lover. "That was... amazing..." Mirage commented, once he was able to think again, function as a reasoning mech again. His words fell short of reality, but there was no surprise there.

Unicron stayed still for a little while; until Mirage seemed to have recovered a little, then he pulled out. He pulled the smaller mech into his arms and sat down in the pool, figuring that the warmth might help his... his lover in his recovery. 

"It was... I don't have words for it, Mirage, thank you."

He mewled a little as Unicron pulled out, then happily cuddled against him in the warm pool. "Thank _you_ , love. That was- Perfect. Just... perfect..." Mirage was quite happy to stay here, head against Unicron's broad chest... He giggled a little. "Okay. I'm going to be just a little sore when I try to walk. I knew I would be... Kind of wanted it."

"You don't have to walk, I can carry you just fine." Mirage was light after all, it was no problem carrying him around. They would need to rinse first, and then refuel; at least Mirage would need the fuel, and then a berth. Not the berth Mirage had used, it was too small, but if...

"Do you need a window or may I bring you to a different recharge berth?"

Carry... Mirage couldn't keep the smile from his face. And location... "You may bring me to any berth you like. As long as you're with me...?" That would be nice, curling against this frame... "Even if you have to leave your avatar. I'll... well, warn me, and I'll be fine with it." Yes, some warning before waking up with a 'dead mech', please and thank you!

"I do not need to leave the avatar for the next several groons, and there are only two berths aside from yours." His avatar's and Cyclonus'. Unicron began washing the smaller mech, making sure to take care, and finally wrapping him loosely in a big fluffy cloth. 

"We will get energon and then retire, yes?"

"Mmm..." Mirage thoroughly enjoyed the bathing, and happily snuggled into the cloth, still pressing to Unicron's chest. "Yes... sweets! Or maybe not... mmm..." Sweets might not be the best when they were planning to rest... Then again, maybe they weren't going to 'rest'... Mirage wouldn't mind trying another round with Unicron.

"Anything you want that I can provide." That was really all he could do, spoil Mirage... give him anything he wanted, anything he asked for that he had the power to give. Their time was so short, if only he had given in before. Just a little more time! Unfortunately the Planet Eater knew he had no time to give, the journey he was taking now was it, all he had.

"Just this. Just the time with you. I didn't even know how badly I'd fallen for you until I came back..." Mirage murmured, quite taken with the novelty of being carried. He might possibly grow more greedy as time went on, but Mirage doubted it. "Oh. And... I'd like... to see your real root mode? Before... the end?" Even if it was only at the end... He would like it.

"My real... That can be done." Unicron was a bit startled, but it was a small thing, a request he did not mind fulfilling. Just not right now... Berth was too big of a lure right now, the idea of watching Mirage in recharge, of touching him and waking him up with kisses. So many things he could try, so many ways of pleasing a mech. It was rather intoxicating to know that he had enough time to explore, not a lot... not as much as he wished for, but enough to play with.

Mirage giggled, pecking Unicron's cheek. "I would also like to see your alt mode in this! Mostly because I think it would be cute as all pit." He really did... "Later. Fuel and berth now. Mmm... I know! Bring some sticky sweets for when we wake up. Mm... yeah..." He was both tired and hyper, desperate not to miss any time with his lover and trying not to think about how little time they had.

"As you wish." Cute? Well, he supposed that his alt might be viewed as such in this miniature form. Not that Unicron pretended to understand the concept of 'cute'. They arrived at his storage hall and he let the smaller mech choose their meal, the candy, and then carried him deeper into his own chassis, down to where his avatar rested when it was not in use.


	8. Chapter 8

The quarters Unicron had made for himself pretty much included all that one could desire of luxuries, simply because he had thought to try them all at least once. The berth alone was big enough for ten mechs his size, and it was covered in cooling blankets and pillows.

"Ooh, nice..." Mirage said, stretching on the berth. "Mm... reminds me of the one I had back home. On Cybertron, I mean, before the war." He still missed it... He grabbed at the fuel, determined to get at least some in his tanks before the long day and emotional changes forced him into recharge. Recharge now, then wake up on this lovely berth, 'face his lover more, and... he really should check on Cosmos.

"It does?" Unicron wasn't sure if he was curious or if he was attempting 'polite' conversation. What did one say to someone who loved you? What did you do with them or to them in a berth that wasn't interfacing or cuddling? As far as he understood, refueling in a berth was a messy and interface related affair too... though some of the things he had read suggested that every couple made their own rules. He supposed that he should let Mirage control things.

"M'hm," Mirage replied distractedly, drinking his energon. "It's all the cloth, very decadent. I was very rich... more than a little spoiled. Even now... I just want the fighting to end so I can go back to my comfortable life... And bring my friends with me. That is one thing... I never had many friends, no real friends." It was a pity Unicron would only ever meet Cosmos... and that was hilarious in its own right.

"Friends?" It was meant as nothing more than a gentle prod. Mirage had talked about the Autobots before, but never in any detail. Mostly, in fact, to tell him that they would want nothing to do with him after the Earth was gone. Unicron wanted to know more, more about Mirage... more of life as a normal mech. He didn't have time to figure it out any longer.

"...Yeah..." Mirage smiled a little, slowly cuddling into Unicron. "Cosmos is my best friend. He's space capable, you see, and so he'll tell me stories about places he's been, what he's seen. He also brings me... gifts..." He looked up at his lover, biting his derma a little. Unicron had already promised to let the 'thief' go, but... "I don't get to see him much, because he's so busy, but I try. And... then there's the mechs I work with, Jazz and Hound and Bumblebee..."

"What is it you work with, in a war?" Unicron did not understand wars; with so much going on... so many things that could happen... why seek to destroy yourself? But his view on such things were crooked to say the least, he had seen so many worlds destroyed, had destroyed so many. And then there was the concept of working for something, for a reason. Unicron did not work because he had to, he could have dropped making energon and treats at any point and not missed it. But for the mortal beings it was different...

"Um..." Mirage wasn't entirely sure what Unicron wanted to know, and so settled on the easy answer. "I'm a spy. I sneak onto the Decepticon's base, and steal information about attacks. I'm good for getting in and out unseen... I have a mod that lets me turn invisible, got it back when I was still a rich, careless young mech. Actually used it a couple times here, um..." Mirage felt his faceplates heat up, and he drank more energon.

"Why did you use it here? I have never observed you, not after you asked me not to." Mildly curious, but not angry, Unicron glanced down at the cuddly mech before starting his own refueling. The avatar needed fuel to function and after meeting Mirage... it had become more pleasant? The small mech looked to him for reactions, forced him to actually think of what he was tasting and what it made him feel.

"Oh, I know you didn't. That's part of being a spy, I have a pretty good sense of when someone's looking at me. But, um... I was masturbating. And... I couldn't relax- I wasn't sure if I would call your name, and I didn't want- I'm not making sense, so I'll shut up." Mirage did so, watching the avatar fuel and for a moment wishing he were large enough to do something with Unicron's real form. The real form he had never actually seen...

"You played with yourself?" For some odd reason that news flustered Unicron, he couldn't quite figure out why. It was certainly not disgust, but... it made his avatar react? Heat and want, lust. The urge to kiss, growl and reclaim... just faint, nothing he could not withstand as yet, but his reasons to withstand was eroding. It was very odd for him, he had perfected control to master his monstrous self and now he was losing it and did not even fear. He still had a firm grip on the broiling mess that was his original self... this was another kind of loss of control, something he could not name. Dared not name.

"Yeah... Thought of you when I did. After the first time, I didn't even try to think of others..." Unicron seemed slightly uneasy, in a good way, and Mirage could think of no reason not to tease him a little more. The Autobot knew how the information would affect him... was it the same for the Planet Eater? Even though he had already told Unicron... they had been busy! He might not have fully 'heard'. "I had to bite my glossa to keep from moaning your name... I didn't know if you would like what I was doing, that I did so thinking about you."

"Mirage... I..." Unicron shifted nervously, one hand drifting down to cup over his codpiece in a nearly protective gesture, though he didn't touch as such. It was hot, radiating heat like before... like when he had thought of Mirage alone in the pools and had felt pleasure for the first time. 

"I would not... have... not..."

"What? You wouldn't have liked it? Or you wouldn't have been able to stop from watching? Or maybe even coming in and... mmm." Mirage smiled, not bothered by Unicron's confession, whatever it was. It was in the past, nothing had happened... and he was already mostly at ease with what his lover had done, had been. Still was, really...

"I wouldn't... have minded..." But to be honest Unicron wasn't sure what his reaction would have been. Mirage had changed so many things for him, so much... so fast. It was dizzying, in a strangely good way, maybe it would have done him good to see the smaller mech, to... to hear him?

"Imagining makes me... hot?"

Well, why not? They had both fueled, and they were _in_ a berth, so there wouldn't be any problems there, and... mm. Yeah. Finishing the rest of his cube, Mirage scooted back, spreading his legs and opening his panel. He just hoped he didn't get too embarrassed to continue... "Does it? Makes me hot, too. So I wonder... mm, what would it do to you... to actually see?" Mirage began teasing himself, just like he had when he was alone.

If it had been possible for him to choke Unicron would have been doing it, he had very nearly swallowed his own glossa. Talking about it had not, in his processor, been linked to 'do it now'. His avatar was far more prompt in its reaction. A hiss escaped him as his hand closed around his quickly pressurizing spike, optics turning from the mesmerizing sight Mirage made to stare uncomprehending down his own chassis.

Oh, that was a gorgeous reaction, well worth taking this chance. Mirage moaned, already circling his valve rim and watching Unicron. "Mm... you look beautiful like that. All pretty and startled... ooh... Uni... Look at me. Let's watch each other. Ah, yeah, watch each other pleasure ourselves... does that sound good, Unicron? Sound fun? mmm..."

"I..." Unicron shifted his gaze again and once again found himself at a loss for what to say. What did one say when presented with a wanton mech all but... no, not 'all but', Mirage was very much masturbating in front of him. A rough moan escaped as he jerkily began moving his own hand, uncertain but too hot not to act.

"Ooh... yes? What is it? Mm... It's so hot to do this, to see you touch yourself, to feel you watching me. I'd like to see you overload like this. Watch the transfluid leave your spike, see it all over you... mm..." Then lick it off, before recharging... Mirage slipped his fingers into his valve, giving a cry when he touched sensitive nodes. Far more sensitive than he remembered them being...! His other hand come up to stroke his slowly emerging spike, and Mirage licked his derma, optics darkening as he watching his lover.

Too much, he wanted to say it, to ask for Mirage to pause, give him a chance to adjust. Unicron shook his head slightly, unable to force the words out or stop his own hand. So new to all of this, the feelings and sensations... the feel of a warm chassis against his. Pleasure.

"Ooh yeah. Ooh, Unicron..." It was just noise, moaning, as Mirage pleasured himself and watched Unicron doing the same. His lover was so clearly new to this, all of it... Mirage loved that he was the one who got to teach Unicron, even if he hated why.

For some reason this was far more intense then the interface had been. During the interface he had had to concentrate on being careful, on taking care of Mirage... this was only him, his pleasure at seeing Mirage and his pleasure in touching himself. That was the only difference he could discern, though he did not know if that was the reason why he overloaded so fast. 

Unicron's vents hitched hard as hot transfluid splattered a silvery pattern across his abdominal plates and even up his chest plates.

The sight was... beautiful, and Mirage whimpered, hands turning nearly rough on himself. He wanted his pleasure, and then he wanted to clean Unicron, before the Planet Eater wiped it off, thank you! With a cry, Mirage got what he wanted, valve clenching against his fingers and spike leaving his own abdomen dirtied. Unsteadily he crawled over to his lover's side, smiling a little. "Wanna clean ya. Clean you, then rest... rest with you, wake with you..."

Unicron couldn't do anything but let him, lean back and leave his avatar open to the smaller mech. This was again something he had read about but never thought to experience. It was... too much! To many things at once, and yet he could not make himself reject Mirage's offers and advances. Perhaps recharge would let him sort though all of it when he reached that state... right now he felt sated, overfull.

Mirage cleaned him up softly, grabbing a cloth to get some of the last remains, and his own mess. Then he curled against Unicron, wrapping a blanket around his shoulders and humming happily at having blankets again. It had been so long... "Love... you..." the noble muttered, fast sliding into recharge and doing nothing to catch himself. He didn't need to. Unicron was there for him... He did, however, need to be there for Unicron...

It took a long time for Unicron to manage recharge, he had so many impressions and feelings to work through. Neither was something he was used to, even when he had experimented himself it had been at a slow pace... a controlled pace. Mirage just threw himself, them, into things... it was intense and beautiful but also almost too much. He understood why, they had limited time, and he did not begrudge the small mech his wanting to use the time to its fullest potential.

Unicron was still in recharge when Mirage woke, and the Autobot smiled, happily laying half on the avatar. He had never seen the golden form like this, so still yet colored. Mirage didn't even stroke the faceplates, unwilling to wake Unicron any sooner than the Planet Eater wanted to wake, regardless of how little time they had together. Watching a lover sleep was part of what he wanted! Sleep... and wake, soft confusion and recognition...

Things were a lot clearer when he woke, at a distance and worked through instead of up close and jumbled together. Some of the events and feelings still refused to make sense, but Unicron suspected that was because they were not supposed to in the first place. His optics flicked online to the vision Mirage made... it was as if the slim mech had been waiting for him to online of his own violation. 

"Mirage?"

He smiled, seeing exactly the expression he had wanted on Unicron's faceplates. "Morning, love. Rest well?" The greeting sounded natural, just like Mirage had hoped it would, and he stroked his hand down the avatar the way he had wanted. "I'm not sure if we should check on Cosmos or not. Honestly, I'm not too worried about it right now."

"Your friend is in Cyclonus' care, he will be fueled and have what entertainment I can offer." Unicron wasn't sure if that was reassuring, but it was all he had to offer. 

"I suppose I had adequate recharge? Can I offer you something...?" It was still disconcerting not to know what was expected of him. What did Mirage want him to do now?

Mirage couldn't help but laugh, snuggling against the avatar. "I am not entirely sure that's comforting, love. Well, I guess he can contact us if he needs. Mmm... Offer me something... For now... energon. After..." He smiled, wickedly. "I don't think I see a reason to leave this berth. Unless you want to, Unicron. ...Don't make this just for me. Tell me what you want, too. I want to make you happy, as much as you want to please me."

But it _was_ just for Mirage, even if he was a little bit selfish in making it so. Unicron huffed and put his arms around the smaller mech, a little awkwardly. They had energon and, for now, time. 

"I am happy with you, doing the things lovers do... if it is staying in the berth or refueling together."

He laughed again, softly, and sat up, holding one of Unicron's arms around him. "Fuel. Here..." Leaning over, Mirage picked up some cubes, drinking from one and holding the other until Unicron sat up. "You can't drink while laying down. Or if you can, I don't think I want to know about it just yet." It might be interesting, certainly would be, but Mirage didn't feel like tackling anything that new quite yet.

"My avatar is no different from your chassis in that regard." Unicron shook his head slightly, taking the cube and righting himself to rest on one elbow joint so that he could drink somewhat comfortably.

"Glad to hear it, actually. Mm..." Mirage lay against Unicron, making himself comfortable against the avatar's abdomen. "...What have you seen? Out here, in space... Tell me? Tell me... a little about your life? I want to hear it... I want to hear you. I want you to talk to me..." They had talked, a lot, but... not about their pasts, not in any real depth.

Well... Unicron chose not to comment further on the subject, thoroughly confused already. The next question was easier, a little, it belonged to what was called 'small talk' and 'getting to know each other'. He could do that... maybe.

"I have seen many things, many worlds... other galaxies..." Pausing uncertainly for a moment, Unicron sorted though his memories and then began describing far away star vistas and some of the worlds he had spent time observing.

Mirage listened entranced, wishing he could see what Unicron had seen, even a portion of it. See it... _with_ Unicron, as a mate... Yes, even if it meant Earth's destruction.

The Autobot did not, of course, share any of his thoughts. As much as it hurt him, Unicron had made his choice. He did hope, though, that the Planet Eater learned enough of emotion in their time together to say, even just once, that he loved Mirage. Just to hear it, know that Unicron meant it... Mirage thought he would give almost anything to get that.

"I could continue to speak for several orns." Unicron broke off rather abruptly, realizing that his avatar was getting low on fuel. He had attempted to starve it at one point, to find out what that was like... it had not been fun, but it had been very educational. Still, it was not something he wanted to try again, not when he did not have to, and if he was to keep speaking for the next few orns he would like to do it fully fueled. 

"I require fuel... perhaps you would like to see some of what I have seen instead of just hearing me talk?" It was worth a try, the holo dome could be... pleasant in other ways too, if Mirage consented. Unicron was rather surprised at the carnal turn his thoughts had taken.

Mirage took a moment to process the words, then gave a delighted squeak and embraced Unicron again. "I would _love_ to! And- fuel would be a good idea..." Mirage had no idea how long he had spent listening to his lover, and would gladly listen for the 'several orns', if Unicron wanted to talk. Well, as long as they found time to do other things. Mm, yeah... other things... "Mm... let's find out how well I can stand." Smiling, he stood slowly, wincing just a little. Unicron had been so _big_ in him...

Unicron snorted, got off the berth, and simply scooped Mirage up again. There was no need for his, for him to try and walk just yet. He took the smaller mech to the stores again, where they chose fuel and candy before taking him deeper inside his real chassis to the holo dome. Once in the dark room, he put Mirage down on the soft, spongy flooring and briefly left his avatar to activate the long dormant chamber. When his optics lit up again, they were met with a star vista alien from any found in their current galaxy.

"This is the first thing I truly remember seeing."

He squeaked a little at the sudden relocation, but happily allowed Unicron to carry him. It was nice, being carried... Nibbling on a candy while Unicron took care of things, Mirage was pretty sure the Planet Eater had 'died' on him again... It didn't matter, and he didn't comment on it, gasping instead as the dome activated. "Ohh... it's... gorgeous..." Alien, yes, with more nebulae, and more stars, too, Mirage thought. It was... old, the Autobot realized, not just distant in space, distant in time as well.

"I suppose it is..." Beauty was in the optic of the beholder. Not that Unicron disagreed, but he did not see like Mirage did... he saw the worlds lost because of him. The races that could never become great because he had ended them, the havoc he had wrecked on a new born universe. His guilt weighed too heavily on him to merely enjoy the vista.

"Uni..." Mirage murmured, aware that the other's mood had turned dark again. But he didn't want to argue, didn't want to 'face' what Unicron had been. Not right now... "What else have you seen? I... I would like to see it all? Or as much as I can!" Distraction, topic change... maybe even pleasure, again, of at least some sort.

"What else... of course." Unicron shook his head and finally laid down by Mirage, taking a cube of fuel because his avatar needed it. He spoke about the vistas the holo dorm showed, told about planets and peoples he had seen. Told about stars and nebulae, beauty without compare... and he found a certain joy in sharing them, as if giving them to another eased his guilt in some indefinable way.

Pretty soon Mirage was, again, cuddled against Unicron, listening and looking intently. As the time past, however, and the fuel got lower, Mirage's gaze turned less to the stars and more to his love. He could see the now-familiar, still thrilling, form faintly, bronze turned to quicksilver under the fake starlight. Mirage reached to trace the avatar, an act which seemed enhanced by the dimness, and slowly started to work Unicron to arousal. Why not? The Planet Eater could always ask him to stop... or at least to wait.

Mirage hadn't asked him to stop speaking, but the smaller mech's attention was not on his words or the vistas above and around them. Unicron would have had a hard time not knowing this, since he was the other's new focus. As he started to stutter his way though descriptions, his optics turned dark... lust was truly a powerful emotion. But, it was not merely lust, was it? 

"Mirage..."

"You can keep talking, if you want. You don't have to. But don't stop showing the stars," Mirage ordered, bending down to lick at Unicron's chest. An idea made the Autobot give a sudden delighted gasp, and he met his lover's golden optics. "Better yet! Show your favorite, if you have one. And stay where you are. I want to try something. Trust me? You can tell me to stop if you want!" Watching for a moment, Mirage thought over his idea again, then smiled and turned his cloak on, still flush with the avatar.

"I... can't..." He would have liked to keep talking, anything that pleased Mirage, but again he had trouble handling the feelings the small mech's touch created. So strong, so all encompassing... at least his lack of concentration had no impact on the images that continued to shift above and around them. 

Unicron whimpered when Mirage disappeared, he could still feel him but...

"I'm right here, love. It's just my mod, remember? I want you to feel pleasure when you look at these... and I want to see you, all of you, in the star-light. Watch how your spike moves when it's in me... Is it okay, Unicron? Or do you need me to be visible again?" Mirage's faceplates were burning at his own shameless words, but his optics were on Unicron as his hands rubbed the frame, dipped into seams.

Managing a stiff nod, Unicron obediently focused on the vista spread out above them, a galaxy nursery... small, fast spinning infant galaxies, and larger, not so fast, already slightly ellipse shaped galaxies on the fringe. It was indeed beautiful... 

"Stay invisible, please..."

He returned to licking, teasing Unicron, working his way down to the panel. It needed to open before they could get far! And it would look so beautiful, under the starlight, under the colored nebulae... "Anything you want, love. Anything..." Even better that it was something Mirage had wanted. He purred as he reached the panel and began licking at the edges. The avatar tasted... good.

At some point the vista changed... he couldn't set it to one single image unless he left his avatar again, he didn't want to do that right now. It was harder to handle pleasure this cycle for some reason, everything seemed so much stronger now. Maybe it was that he knew what to expect... only Unicron knew he didn't, not really. 

"Mirage!" The quiet snick of his panel sliding open under continued touches seemed terribly, wonderfully loud as stars spun unwinking around them.

"Oh, so pretty!" Mirage responded, pulling back a little to touch the exposed array. He wasn't bothered by his own state, unable to see his hand; the Autobot was very used to the effect by now. He liked touching things when he was invisible, verifying they were real while still able to see them clearly... that was why he had first got the mod. "You're so lovely, Unicron... In every part, every way..." Murmuring lowly, Mirage returned to licking, tasting the spike sheath and stroking the valve rim.

"M..." Unicron's voice choked off again, he wanted to say things... even a few things he had no words and no courage for. The heat and pleasure were too much though, still so new... would he have the time to get to know it?

He loved making Unicron loose his voice like that. How could he not, it was _Unicron_. Made speechless because of _him_... Even so, Mirage soothed him, touching with only his hands so he could speak. "I remember... my first time. I couldn't even _think_ , let alone talk. It frustrated me so much, and my lover only laughed. I understood it the first time I rendered _him_ speechless. It didn't take long, lot really... it just seemed like forever at the time."

Shaking his head, Unicron squirmed ever so slightly, both glad for the reprieve and wanting more at the same time. It was so odd not seeing the chassis that rested on and against his avatar, all he could see was shifting vistas of stars... He recognized the attempt to sooth him though, accepted that he reacted like any other mech did when first confronted with pleasure. It made the slightly panicky feelings recede a little...

Unicron relaxed, visibly, and Mirage smiled, going back to his licking. "Give me your spike, lover? Let me feel it, let me taste it..." Yes, feel it in his mouth, under his glossa... Mirage squirmed until he was straddling Unicron's leg, and then he let himself rock against it. That felt good, yeah... Not that Mirage wouldn't get wet enough from sucking Unicron, but why limit himself? Why not be every bit as decadent as he wanted? Unicron wouldn't care, wouldn't know better... and it wasn't like he was hurting anyone!

With a quiet, in a way almost defeated, sound, Unicron gave up on any kind of control apart from what kept him in his avatar. His spike had wanted to be free since he let his panel open... it was odd to both crave and fear what his little... what Mirage could make him do, feel... be.

Mirage gave a pleased purr, taking the spike in until his nose was against Unicron's pelvic plate. Mirage was very pleased with himself. He hadn't been sure that he could do that still, let alone with Unicron's... large, wonderful spike. Now that he had it in, the former noble kind of wanted to keep if there for a while, but that wouldn't really do much for Unicron... Mirages pulled back off, sucking as he went.

Again the most fundamental control came under siege, Unicron could feel how his avatar was... no, no. It wasn't his avatar that was the problem, it was him. He wanted to really experience Mirage and he couldn't... they were only partially perfect for each other. That he couldn't see the smaller mech, did it make it better or worse? He couldn't tell, it was good, it felt good, he wanted to just give in and overload...

He had underestimated the effect he had on Unicron, it seemed. Mirage recognized the signs, and everything pointed to the Planet Eater overloading very soon. He could pull back and deny Unicron, but then his lover wouldn't last very long in him, and that wouldn't do at all. Or he could give this to Unicron, give him the pleasure, and then wind him up for a second round, maybe. Spike or valve, though Mirage would still prefer the spike, and it would look better, wouldn't it, watching a spike in an invisible valve? But that could be decided later. Overload now. Maybe he could time it right, end up wearing the transfluid... it would be pretty, seeming to hang in the air...

Strangled sounds begged for the small mech to continue, it was the best he could do while keeping control. Unicron wasn't interested in anything but Mirage, what limited time he had left was meant for the former noble... The planet eater didn't even consider how his priorities had changed, he didn't know that they could change and did not look too closely at how he formulated his thoughts.

Working his way back down, Mirage couldn't help but purr. Unicron looked and sounded so good this way... would look even better soon. Unicron didn't lose control in overload, Mirage knew, and he knew why, or at least had an idea. But it was the closest the Planet Eater could come to losing control, and it was beautiful... Mirage swallowed around the spike, waiting for the tell-tale twitches so he would know when to pull back, let the fluid cover him.

Soon... Unicron didn't try to fight it this time, let the overload build and crest, protecting only what he had to protect to keep from leaving the avatar behind. His optics flickered on and off and he arched, his sensor arrays grinding into the soft flooring of the holo dome.

Mirage moaned as he pulled back, continuing simulation with a hand as he did so as to end up wearing the fluids... it was just as he wanted, and he purred as he softly coaxed Unicron down from his high. "So beautiful. So very gorgeous..." It was even more pretty under the shifting lights, the cold stars and shifting gasses, the vistas no-one else had seen or ever could see. "My lovely Unicron..."

"Mirage..." The name seemed to be carried on the hot air from his vents. Unicron relaxed back, dim golden optics only barely focusing on the invisible form and the silvery streaks that decorated thin air. 

"What you do to me... I did not know it was possible to feel this way."

He didn't know how to answer that. After thinking a moment, Mirage settled for kissing Unicron, smearing the fluid as he did so. "Do you know how you feel, love? Or do you not have words for it?" He would like to hear, either hear Unicron say how he felt, or just try to describe it... "I kind of love the fact that you're so... innocent..." Innocent in a way.

"Dizzy, needy... wanting more, afraid of it, a thousand other things. Not sure there are words for it at all!" Unicron shook his head, a little dazed from the kiss, a lot dazed from post overload bliss. Innocence? He supposed he was, in this manner at least, in the ways of the spark... love. The small mech loved him, even knowing he was a monster. It was almost impossible to believe it.

"I remember feeling that way. ...I still do, actually. Some of it is just a reaction to new pleasure... Some of it is... affection for the one showing the pleasure..." There was always at least that much affection, always! As long as the pleasure was wanted... "Do you want to try for another round, do you want to try something new, or do you just want to talk for a while?" Interfacing was very good, but it was not the only reason he had returned to Unicron, after all.

"I would not... mind another overload?" His tone was questioning, he would not mind either of the options offered but more pleasure sounded so good to his barely cooling chassis. Unicron lifted a hand to curl it around the back of Mirage's helmet, drawing the smaller mech into another kiss.

He squirmed, smearing the transfluid all over Unicron and returning the kiss quite enthusiastically. Another overload for Unicron would be just perfect, and then he could get what he really wanted from this joor... "I still want you in me... see yourself through me... but if you want me to be inside you next time, I'll do that. But that's better when I can be seen, so later..." Not that Mirage was in a hurry, laying against Unicron and stroking him.

"I want that... want to be inside you, but..." He had to warn Mirage, about... 

"I might slip up, my control slips all the time... I might lose control of my avatar." It was not really a warning, just that he didn't want to scare Mirage should he slip up. All of this was a challenge, pushed him at wanting more and yet warning him that he might not be able to take it.

Mirage thought, just for a moment, recalling the 'dead' avatar, the way it looked, felt... "That's okay. I mean, I needed you to tell me, but... now I'll be okay if it happens. I kissed you like that before. Though... I'll be happiest if the spike doesn't go away..." He had no clue if the spike would depressurize without control or not. Mirage kind of hoped not to find out, as curious as another part of him was. "It will be worth it to know I drove you at least that far out of control."

"Long as you are sure." Unicron relaxed again, trusting that Mirage wouldn't do anything he didn't want to do. After all in this the slim little Autobot was the master and teacher, it felt so good to let go... 

"I want to feel you again... anything you want."

Smiling, though it couldn't be seen, Mirage resumed working Unicron up. He wanted to make very sure that spike would be nice and hard before he took it... "So sweet, so perfect. You're so good for me, Unicron..." Yes, no matter what he had done before... He kissed Unicron again, brushing his hand against the other's valve just for a change of pace, squirming hungrily. He hadn't yet overloaded, after all.

Perfect, sweet... good for him? Unicron couldn't say those were words he had ever thought to hear used about himself. He didn't speak up to disagree though, what was the point in that... As long as he made Mirage happy for what time he had left. 

"Play with me?"

"I'm trying, love..." Mirage laughed, switching between spike and valve at whim. He was having so much fun... "So gorgeous. I can't wait to straddle you. Take you into me... You'll feel me, all around you, but when you look, you'll only see your spike, see it moving, see the fluids moving around it... Will you like that, love?"

"I think... I will enjoy it." Unicron smiled vainly, unsure how to handle the banter. He would enjoy anything Mirage did to and with him... it did not have to be interfacing. All that he had done with the small mech had been pleasing and enjoyable.

Poor Unicron. He was probably pushing the Planet Eater too much, Mirage thought in passing. It was enough to make him say, "Stop me if I ask too much of you," but not enough to actually halt the mech's hands. Unicron was nearly as hard as Mirage wanted... One invisible hand squeezed around Unicron's spike, and Mirage purred, rocking himself against Unicron's leg.

Moaning deeply, Unicron simply nodded. He hardly thought it would be necessary to stop Mirage now... the only thing he had been worried about was losing control over the avatar. With that warning out and the smaller mech's acceptance of it he had no more concerns.

Good enough... Mirage couldn't wait any more, needing to feel Unicron again. Lifting his hips, Mirage positioned himself, then sank down on Unicron, arching back and looking sightlessly at the beautiful vistas above them. Oh, Primus, yes. Mirage keened, rocking and mewling, feeling very helpless. It was so good...

It was odd, to feel but not see... Again it forced an awareness and a need that was almost too much. But then it seemed interfacing would always be on the verge of being too much. Maybe it would always been nearly too much. He was not he most experienced being... 

"E... even when I c-cannot... see, you are... b-beautiful..."

Big, thick, inside... Mirage didn't respond to Unicron's moan, rocking again and falling forward, catching himself on his hands. He got a better angle this way anyway... much better angle. And it was fun to 'pin' Unicron down. Pin him down, hunch over, rock and move on him... "Ooh, yes. Yes... Uni...!" He had forgotten just how fun this position was, mewling and gasping with each shift.

He could feel hands on his plating, the shift and scrape of Mirage's hips over his pelvic... feel the tight valve around his spike, the slick fluids of interfacing. But he couldn't see it, couldn't visually confirm it and denied himself the pleasure of touching, claws digging into the spongy material of the floor, into the stars and nebulae shown there.

His lover was so sweet, and Mirage really did appreciate it, aware of what damage those claws could cause to him and yet feeling totally safe with Unicron. "You'll look... so _good_ , filling me... Ohh, want that...!" Because it would be enjoyable, and it would make them both feel good, and even if the avatar did go dead... wouldn't that just be a sign that it had been good? He should ask about that... and then try to make Unicron lose that control.

"Feels... overwhelming, Mirage..." He could not see his lover, wasn't seeing the vistas that swirled and shifted around them. Unicron slowly, carefully gave himself up to his feelings, keeping only a tenuous hold on himself and the connection to his avatar.

"Yes...!" Mirage moaned. He wasn't agreeing, per se, more just moaning, a step from screaming, as he drove himself into the overload that was right there, right _there_... And then he did cry out, just once, valve clutching Unicron's spike and the noble knew he never wanted to leave, never wanted this to end.

It was curious to feel the smaller mech overload, hear him... and not see him. So many elements to this 'interfacing' that he had never thought about, thought to experience. 

Unicron watched his lover though dimmed optics, or rather he watched the iridescence of his own transfluid in mid air. He _heard_ Mirage overload, enjoyed it and kept his control even as he let his avatar overload. He wished he could feel it all... but he did not want to risk it even if Mirage was okay with it.

Shivering a little, Mirage lowed himself down, laying on Unicron's chest again. A moment later he flickered into visibility, smiling sweetly. "You didn't lose control. Are you satisfied, love?" He wanted to have made Unicron happy, at least, though Mirage was pretty sure he had. "We'll clean up later, but I'm sure you want to... mmm..."

"I am satisfied, Mirage... I just... don't feel comfortable with leaving you with my Avatar." Huffing a little Unicron hugged the slight frame on top of his own, marveling again at the trust he was being shown. He was, had always been, a destroyer, someone feared, but Mirage saw something else in him. If it hadn't been for the corax...

"That's okay. I was teasing." Mirage squirmed just a little as Unicron hugged him, enjoying the contact all along his body. "Mm... we should get clean, I guess. Recharge again..." He was tired, really, now that he remembered it, even though he had done so little this orn. As lazy as he had ever been in the Towers... Mirage smiled at the thought, guilt-free luxury. Though Unicron did feel guilty... but not because of that...!

"It is not something that needs to be done right now." Unicron was reluctant to leave the swirling images and the feel of the small frame on him. He wanted to enjoy it, there would be so precious few times like this... for him, but especially for Mirage to remember.

Mirage just purred, perfectly happy to stay with his lover. The next groon would have been the happiest in Mirage's memory if he hadn't known it would end in pain. Mostly, he was able to ignore what was coming, and it was easy to enjoy himself.


	9. Chapter 9

After a while, Mirage couldn't ignore the feeling that he was neglecting Cosmos. Even if his friend understood, it was very rude... "Hey, Uni? Love, do you feel up to actually meeting Cosmos? I mean, he brought me all the way here, and I've just abandoned him with Cyclonus, so I'd like to at least... check on him. And I'd like you to come with me, if you'd be willing."

"I do not know... but I will go with you to the surface at least." Honestly Unicron had very mixed feelings about the thief that had led Mirage to him. He was angry at him because, while leading him to the mech he now called lover, he had also doomed them. And on the other hand... well, he _had_ caused their meeting.

"That'll be just fine," Mirage agreed, kissing Unicron. "I'll try not to take too long, I just- I'm being rude by ignoring him, so I just want to check in fast." He held Unicron's hand as he walked, able to walk without pain even with the slightly stretched soreness of his valve. Mirage liked the feeling, knew he would miss it, and didn't let himself dwell too much on it.

"I do not mind, I understand that friendship requires... care? Nurturing..." Carefully shortening his stride he made sure Mirage could walk comfortably, still unsure about the other's well being. He wasn't limping or giving any sign that he was hurting... still. 

"Cyclonus has been with him, he has been well taken care of."

Mirage laughed, leaning against Unicron's arm for a moment. "Love, I hate to tell you, but Cyclonus is not much better than being left alone. Unnerving as all pit, that one, reason or not!" It was a joke, a simple jab that Cyclonus, if he ever heard it, wouldn't mind, wouldn't even consider that he should. "And nurturing, yes. I often feel as though Cosmos is the one putting most of the work in out friendship... Well, that can be worked on after... we leave here."

"I don't see anything wrong with Cyclonus." Unicron found it odd that Mirage didn't feel completely comfortable with the purple mech, but respected it. He knew the mech had no feelings, of course he knew, but that did not stop him from being a good companion. Just a cold one. 

"It will be good to know that you have someone to help you." What else could he say?

"...He won't be helping me like that. But he will be someone to talk to. And Cyclonus... it's just disconcerting to me, that he _can't_ feel, more than just not knowing. It's... eh. Probably me being a snooty Towerling." Mirage laughed again, then began walking faster as they approached an entrance to the outside. And... "...Is there someone waiting for us?"

'Like that'? Unicron chose not to comment, unsure what Mirage meant or had thought he meant with that word choice. 

"Cyclonus is waiting, I informed him we were coming to visit. Many find him difficult to understand, without feelings it is hard to tell if he has thoughts. It is the curse he bears, but I understand your difficulty." Easily pacing the smaller mech, he looked towards the entrance and the tall, silent mech standing to one side in it. The ice spark would follow him into the sun, knowing he would just end slowly instead of quickly if he stayed... should he tell Mirage?

That wasn't his problem with Cyclonus, really, but Mirage saw little reason to keep on with conversation. "Ah. Alright, then, let's not make his wait too long." A few steps closer, and Mirage raised his hand in greeting as he came around the final corner. It was just Cyclonus, somewhat to Mirage's disappointment, but he recognized that it might be best for Cosmos to to be here.

"Greetings." Cyclonus saw no point in the word but knew that most mechs, all beings really, liked to be met with it or similar words. 

"Cyclonus. How is... Cosmos? Mirage wishes to speak with him." Unicron felt awkward talking about the thief that had landed them all at this impasse.

"I've... kind of been neglecting him. And I want to fix that... well, a little." This was dealing his friendship with Cosmos a very severe blow, Mirage knew. It would take a long while to recover, but Mirage was sure it would. He had to be sure, because he couldn't face the idea of losing his love and having to get over that alone.

"He is in the garden. He has complained of ignorance, but that is all," Cyclonus answered. Even that had been in the beginning, and not so much lately. "There is something you both need to see."

"Is that so." Unicron had no wish to the see thief, but would not decline going to the garden. Cyclonus would not state that there was something he needed to see if it was not the utter bare truth. But what he could possibly need to see in his destroyed gardens was beyond him.

Mirage, who had turned to go as soon as Cyclonus told him where Cosmos was, paused at the confusing addendum. He wasn't sure why Cosmos was even in the depressing garden, let alone why Cyclonus would- not 'want', but report that there was something they needed. He took Unicron's hand as the Planet Eater answered. Whatever this was, they would see it together, truly together.

Cyclonus didn't bother responding to Unicron's statement, familiar with his master's habits. He simply started walking, certain he would be followed.

Reluctantly following his servant, Unicron closed his hand fully around Mirage's small appendage. It was not a long trek, the gardens had been something he enjoyed so much until very recently... how would Mirage have liked them when they were in their prime?

Even dying, the garden was beautiful. Mirage easily noticed Cosmos' form, standing among the crystals, and he raised his hand to wave. The spacecraft didn't seem to notice, much to Mirage's confusion. He seemed to be looking at something, and Mirage thought it was probably whatever Cyclonus had brought them here. It was certain that something was different, but the spy couldn't immediately work out what.

"Cyclonus..." It was not a question, nor blame but the single word held pain. Unicron did not want to see his fall as it happened. He would have been happy, hiding inside himself, holding Mirage until it was time to end it all...

Less sure of what he 'should' see, less convinced that stolen corax meant Unicron's death, it still took Mirage several long moments to work it out. He looked towards Unicron as his beloved spoke, optics sweeping over the garden and away from Cosmos, and finally Mirage realized.

"It's not dying anymore."

The words were said almost as tonelessly as Cyclonus might say them. Mirage was too busy processing what he saw and what he had said to be capable of much emotional shading. He was happy, disbelieving, frightened, hopeful, and extremely confused, and that made picking any tone but flat impossible as well.

"That is impossible..." And yet he still looked and had to agree. Letting go of Mirage, the large mech walked forward, hand reaching out so that claw tips could touch one of the vibrant corax crystals where it grew among dead dusty husks. 

It was impossible, should not be happening...

Cosmos seemed to notice them then, walking over. He paused a moment at the clear shock on Unicron's face, but shrugged. Cyclonus was more than he seemed as well, as Cosmos had learned. "That's what he said. That doesn't change that... well, it's growing again. We've noticed it for a... a few orns now."

"U- unicron...?" Mirage asked, processing in flits and starts. There was still a lot of dead corax, and he rather wanted to get in there and start working, clearing out the garden... So the new growths wouldn't strangle. New growths which he had been told wouldn't be there. "This is... good, though. I- isn't it...?"

"I do not know, Mirage... It should be impossible!" But maybe... maybe it meant hope? But why?! Why did it happen this of all times, what was different. Well, Mirage was something different, but could that be it? Or was it what the mech made him feel...

He had to ask, and Mirage didn't really care that Cosmos and Cyclonus were near-by, or that Cosmos seemed to be leaning into the frozen mech. Unicron was his lover, if things were different he would ask for more... And it was seeming as though things really had changed?

"Love... does this mean you can... You can wait? And not end... _or_ eat Earth...?" Mirage asked lowly, looking at the familiar face. If Unicron just promised to wait... they could even stay near the sun if they had to, and Mirage would stay with him... Did this really mean that?

"I do not know that either... there is time yet. If this... then yes." Unicron sent his herald a look, then scooped up Mirage and left the garden behind. He was not sure he could deal with the hope at this point, he was not used to hope at all! It was almost more foreign than pleasure... 

"If it continues to grow, maybe."

Mirage could understand that, as much as he _wanted_ the confirmation. Unicron couldn't afford to be careless, and was devoted enough that he wouldn't lie or give false hope. It was one of the ways the Planet Eater was sweet, though it hurt Mirage right now. "Maybe is enough for now, love. And we don't have to deal with it now. We can continue on as we have been." Mirage wrapped himself around the avatar and kissed Unicron gently, reassuringly.

"Mm..." This was something he could disappear in, forget in, even if it was just for a little while. Mirage did that for him, gave him breems and joors where he did not think about the end he had chose. Where he could forget what he had been and done and why. 

"This is all I can give, right now."

"This is all I need, love. I never want to ask for more than you can give." Mirage wanted more than Unicron could give, and he knew that, but he didn't ask, he did his very best to never ask. He didn't want to make his lover feel worse. He knew that Unicron was often sad, depressed even... Mirage knew it wasn't his fault, but also knew that he could, at least, not add to it.

"Then let us forget for a while and see what the future brings." Compared to hope, pleasure was much easier to control, and Unicron took his lover to the pools, eager to forget that hope existed.


	10. Chapter 10

Hope still existed when they reached their destination and the planet eater lazily circled the star that might take his life, not telling Mirage that they had arrived.

Mirage was content to spend the orns in pleasure and love. He was quite sure that Unicron loved him, even if the other still hadn't said so. He kept track of time, though, almost unintentionally, and knew when they had reached the time that Unicron had said was their limit. The Planet Eater didn't mention anything about it, though, and so Mirage let it go. More orns passed, and finally the blue and white mech had to ask.

"Unicron...? We've... been here for a while, haven't we? I didn't exactly mean to keep track of days, and my count is probably off a little, but..." He was asking for information.

Shoulders slumping just a little, Unicron dimmed his optics and huffed tiredly. 

"Yes, we have arrived a few orns ago. I did not... want to say it, not yet, since the corax seem to grow still..." Turning to face his small lover, he smiled, though the smile was tinged with bitterness. 

"I still don't know if I dare hope, now that I have learned to love it is both harder and easier to seek the final end. I have a reason to live, but I also have a good reason for ending it all." If he turned into a monster again there would be only pain for the one he loved, that was more than reason enough to end it.

"...We're never... sure. Mechs, I mean. I... think there's a reason the corax is growing, even if I don't know what it is. And... if you hope... I mean, especially with the corax to watch and... alert?" It seemed less of a risk than Unicron thought, in Mirage's opinion, but then, he had never really seen his lover as the monster Unicron said he had been. Perhaps that made him naive. Mirage wasn't sure he cared. He wanted longer with his love, even if it might be ended in fear and pain and _hurt_ with little warning.

"I will not bring you pain!" Unicron was firm in that, tone broking no argument. And yet he knew that no matter what he chose, pain might well be the end for Mirage. If he ended himself, the mortal would have to live alone, bearing the love they had shared on only his frail shoulder struts. It might well break him despite the promises to live on. And if he stayed and the corax turned out to be a false promise... 

"I will _not_ bring you pain!" as if repeating would change facts...

Mirage reached up, cupping Unicron's cheek in one hand, and smiled softly. "Life is pain. Life is also joy, and love. There is no way that you can _not_ hurt me. The same is true of every single relationship one being can have with another. Drawing close hurts, and the closer you are, the deeper the hurt is felt. And yet, the need to be close motivates us all..."

He wanted to say more. Say that he found Unicron's choice cowardly, that the simple desire not to be a monster was almost certainly enough for Unicron to control his own darker side... Perhaps ironically, Mirage stayed silent in order to spare his beloved pain.

"But love... love is too much for me? I don't know how to hold on to it, to you... how to contain it so that it does not slip though my fingers." That had to be the closest he had ever come to say that word _to_ Mirage. He wanted to say it, but like hope, pleasure, and all those other positive feelings the small mortal mech had brought to him, it was too much...

"You don't. If you contain love, it will turn to hate." Mirage bent forward, kissing Unicron tenderly. He didn't like to think that he could hate Unicron, but he had lived long enough- lived with his emotions enough- to know that it was true. "Loving another is the biggest risk of all. You can give all your love, and find it rejected. You can give everything, and get nothing in return. You can give small, measured amounts, and find the return so minimal that you wonder why anyone bothers. But then, you give yourself to a mech, and he feels the same way. And everything you give is returned, so you have more to give, and more is returned... And words aren't even needed." Though he would cherish the moment that Unicron spoke the words, if it ever came.

"Hate seems so much more easy... all beings hate me." He knew it was deserved, but all the text he had read spoke of forgiveness... Did he not deserve that? Or was it only for mortals. Should he resent the Universe or accept... 

"I... do love you, Mirage, but I don't want to cause any more harm. I have done more damage then any mortal can comprehend! If I knew it would never happen again... but how can I?"

For a long, long moment, Mirage just held Unicron. Just to hear the words... But there were things he had to finish, had to say and had to teach and...

"That makes me so happy. I already... knew, but for you to admit it... Most beings _don't_ hate you, Unicron. Most don't even know you any more." He had threatened Earth, but Mirage knew his comrades, knew they would forgive him, and knew that humans would follow soon enough, or simply forget. "And it's not like you'll wake up as a monster with no warning. I can't believe you ever will... and you won't have to rely on noticing it yourself."

"You would take that risk? Even though you would be the one hurt the most..." It was still... He still did not know if he wanted to risk it, if he dared to risk it. But maybe? Unicron huffed, feeling the frustration of not knowing and the need to do something about it. 

"Is that it? Taking the chance... share... love?"

"Unicron... I would beg to take that risk. To stay with you, to love you, to be loved. You can show me where you've been, what you've seen... we can discover the universe together. And I won't let you become a monster again." Even if it meant that he would have to some day order his lover- mate? to kill himself...

But if they were mates... and if Unicron truly went out of control...

Unicron's agreement to the need for control might not be required at that point.

"You may be a mortal, but you could still have a very long life... I could cause even that to be very short indeed. I want you to live! That is all I care about, I don't want to be the cause of your death..." But Mirage had said that living without him, even though he would try, would be like dying. Unicron shook his head, his array unfurling from his agitation. He wasn't used to having a choice... not like this at least.

"And what about you? As you say, I'm mortal... would you become mortal?" Mirage was curious more than worried. Unicron was planing on dying anyway, so the prospect of mortality probably wouldn't frighten him. And the other option... the though that Mirage himself might, by bonding Unicron, become immortal... It did not scare Mirage. "Unicron... I want you to live as much as you want me to. I... am only willing to let you offline if you are becoming the monster again."

"I don't know the answer to that? Maybe you would become like me, maybe I would become mortal. Either would be good, for me at least... but for you?" Unicron shook his head, array moving agitatedly. He understood, or thought he did, Mirage's reasoning but this... all that was happening was impossible!

"Neither option scares me. I'd have you... that's enough." The words felt so simple to say, but Mirage never stopped stroking and physically reassuring Unicron. "I... know this is a lot for you to think about right now. You don't... have to work this all through now. We've been here a while, we don't have to go anywhere..." He knew, by now, when his lover, beloved, was having problems, was overwhelmed. After so many millennium of life, Unicron was used to going slow. As much as it annoyed Mirage at times, he understood the need and did his best to be patient.

"You are far too confidant." But it was not said in a tone carrying anything but exhaustion. Unicron was tired of fighting, tired of trying to understand... Nothing made sense anymore! That included Mirage, who seemed so flighty and brief but also seemed to hold a secret to life that Unicron had not discovered despite all his eons of existence.

"Someone has to be," Mirage said, much less serious than he had been. He really was listening to Unicron, or trying to, but mortality didn't scare him at all. He was already mortal, after all. Dying, or even suiciding, if Unicron was becoming a monster would be... sad, but worth the time bonding would give them, in Mirage's mind. And the thought of becoming like Unicron... he couldn't quite process that. Mirage knew that. But at the same time, he couldn't see how it would be that much different from his current life, and he would still have Unicron, and so it wasn't frightening at all.

"Give me time." And Unicron turned his attention to getting the time he needed in the most pleasurable way he knew how. 

He couldn't keep his lover distracted forever, or himself for that matter. And want was slowly turning to need, not a need of desperation as the one that had fueled his journey here but a need no less. Love, being loved... having a purpose above the one he had taken himself. The choice moved ever closer, die or live... end or love. And still Unicron was unable to choose.

The orns... well, the didn't drag on. Mirage didn't think they _could_ drag when he was with Unicron. But they did pass, and the Planet Eater seemed no closer to a decision. Mirage wondered if he would make one... or if he could. This was not a situation Unicron had ever expected, after all...

Mirage was still getting tired of it. He was tired of living in uncertainty, of wondering if Unicron would end it all or take a chance. So he did something drastic and possibly a little foolish. Nestled against Unicron in the berth they were sharing, Mirage let his chest part, let Unicron see and access his living spark.

"Mirage?" Unicron didn't pull away, but he stiffened his hands, settling on what plating they had been caressing before. His optics was drawn to the agitated orb in his lover's chest. It was the first spark he had seen that wasn't... well, that wasn't Cyclonus'. It was wildly different, agitated and very much alive.

He squirmed a little, feeling dreadfully wanton like this. He felt so hot, too, quite happy for the courage and the chance to show his lover his spark... "It's yours, Unicron. For as long as we both live..." Unicron didn't need to bond him to have access to his spark, though Mirage dearly hoped he would. All he really expected from this was a choice, really. ...And maybe some fascinated and lovely exploratory touches.

"It is beautiful..." And even though he was deep down terrified, one of his hands still moved up along blue and white plating to touch the barred internals. Unicron did not know what to do but his chassis... well, his Avatar, seemed to have ideas of its own. Or maybe it was his subconscious mind that was not as fearful as his conscious mind.

Mirage shivered and squirmed, resisting his impulse to arch into to the touches. His reactiveness already scared Unicron... "Mm... good. Feels so good. Feels good, Unicron, nothing but good..." He wanted to see Unicron's- Or at least the spark the avatar had. Mirage knew it had something... he had felt it pulse and flair under and against him before. He wanted to see it and feel it- and do quite a bit more, really. That was up to his lover, though. It had to be.

"There is... a problem with what you want..." Unicron wasn't sure why, but he was taking a decision he had been sure he would never be taking. Still there was a problem with what Mirage wanted, a major one...

Frowning, Mirage looked at Unicron, trying not to let his emotions get too much out of hand. This wasn't a rejection, yet, and even if it was... he would handle that then. "What kind of a problem, love? You know what I want, but... don't let me force you." As odd as it seemed to speak of 'forcing' the Planet Eater to do anything.

"I know you are impatient... But that is not it." Unicron laughed low, gently touching the bared internals. No, that wasn't it. Mirage lived his life at another pace and he could accept that... even let the other push him into making faster decisions then he normally would. 

"My Avatar has no spark, nothing for you to bond..."

"...But I've felt one?" Mirage asked, and then shook his head in irritation. "No, I mean... I know you're telling the truth..." He brought one of Unicron's hands to his face and kissed it softly, arching up into the gentle touch. Unicron was so _gentle_ with him... It was very, very hard to imagine this being as the monster he was told he had been. "You have one, though, right? So we can go there... If you want to." That had sounded, after all, like... acceptance. Agreement.

"It is simply an energy source, it activates whenever I use this Avatar. It can only hold part of my essence." Unicron knew he could make Mirage feel good by letting him merge the faux spark, but it would be nothing more than that. Still, he parted his chest and let the other see...

"Nothing but a temporary vessel. My real spark is deep within my real chassis... protected. I can take you there..." But his Avatar would eventually have to leave the smaller mech, and Mirage would be alone with his real self.

Mirage cooed, reaching for what he could see- but yes. It wasn't a real spark, lacking the cohesion and form he knew his own spark had. Even Cyclonus' spark, frozen as it was, had looked more like his than this did. That understanding didn't stop Mirage from reaching, carefully tracing the internals just as gently as Unicron was touching him.

"If you choose to, I would very much like to see- and feel, your... real spark." He was aroused, and would like an overload, but Mirage could hold off on that if it were needed, and certainly if it would give him... what he wanted. A bond...

His own touches had a very profound impact on Mirage, Unicron could see it. Mirage's touching did not leave him cold but... it was not at all what his lover seemed to expect it to be for him. That was probably one difference from his real self and his Avatar... maybe. 

"I know, but do you want it to be now?"

"I'm... I worry that you'll... change your mind, if... we wait..." Mirage admitted, though he felt bad for saying that. "I do, mm... want to overload, but don't need to. And I don't... want to wait too long...?" And not only because of his worry that Unicron would talk himself out of this if they waited. Mirage just wanted a bond so much that he didn't want to wait unless they had to.

"I understand." It was not a lack of trust as such... Mirage feared that he might decide to end himself if they did not bond. He feared being alone again, Unicron understood. That fear had only been with him for a short time but he feared it, feared it more than anything else. 

"Very well." Rising he took the smaller frame with him, carrying him from the observation room, Mirage's home, and deeper into his own chassis. Towards the one place where his Avatar could not go.

Mirage did nothing to stop Unicron from carrying him, though he did close his chest plates, mostly from old habit. It wasn't strictly safe to go about so exposed where they might be seen, though he knew there wasn't anyone to see them...

It didn't matter, anyway. It would be easy enough to open them again. "Thank you..." Mirage murmured as he was carried, though the words didn't really even begin to cover what he wanted to convey. Unicron would understand.

"I cannot take you all the way, my Avatar will only be able to bring you so close to my spark before I have to leave it or risk destroying it." Unicron had no idea what would happen, he didn't even know if he could bond. But he needed to tell Mirage what he did know...

"Then I'll walk. I am capable of that, however much you prefer carrying me, love," Mirage soothed, just a hint of teasing in his voice. His spark was beginning to pulse faster as the reality began to set in. He really was going to Unicron's spark, to bond him... To know him. Mirage's only concern was what the influx of Unicron's very long life might do to his own processor and spark. He thought he would be able to accept it, accept what his beloved had done and been... He just hoped he wasn't wrong.

It was a silent walk... Unicron wished he could have filled it with talk but there was nothing he could talk about. Mirage would not appreciate hearing all his doubts again and those were what filled his processor...

Eventually he felt his Avatar weakening; faltering and he stopped, settled Mirage on his pedes and huffed heavily. 

"Walk on... this corridor leads to only one place."

Mirage stood and embraced the form he still tended to think of as simply 'Unicron'. "It's okay. I know that you are not this... that you're around me- or will be. ...In the future, I should spend some time learning how to share pleasure with your real form..." That would be nice... and they would _have_ a future. He had to believe that.

He didn't linger for very long after he had given his comfort, though. Mirage turned away, walking down the corridor slower than he would have liked, body out of practice with walking. He only looked back once, out of pure morbid curiosity, but he couldn't tell if the avatar was 'dead' or not.

For a long moment Unicron was torn between watching the small mech walk away and leaving his Avatar to feel him instead. In the end there was not much of a choice though and he released his mirror image to be himself. 

He could feel Mirage. Feel him in a part of himself that had never felt touch. 

"Mirage..."

The blue and white mech hadn't even realized that he was trailing his hand against the wall in the same gesture he had started long ago. The voice made him realize, deeper than it was from the avatar, but still the same... and static-laced in desire as much as hesitation. He was inside Unicron, going for the... mech's spark, and of course he could feel it...

Mirage placed his hand more firmly against the wall. "Love you, Unicron. Want nothing more than to make you happy..." It wasn't really an answer, or anything that the other didn't know...

He'd not been looking for confirmation. He'd barely been aware that he had vocalized the name of his lover. Unicron didn't mind the reassurance though, for he was worried what Mirage would think when he saw him... saw his core. Touched it and tried to become a part of it. 

"It's not much further... just..."

"Just?" Mirage echoed, continuing to walk. For all he wanted to hurry, to _do_ this, his walk was leisurely. This was too big to rush, anymore than he had already.

Even going slowly, the walk was too short to hear Unicron's answer. A final door opened, or maybe it would be more accurate to call it a valve, and Mirage stopped just after passing through, vents stuttering in awe. Unicron's spark was huge...

And there was nothing around it. At least, that was Mirage's first impression. And then, slowly, he realized that Unicron had the same spark chamber as any mech... just bigger. Big enough that he was standing inside it.

"... I know it is not..." 'what you are used to', the Unmaker actually cringed, spark pulsing and fluttering nervously. Unicron had no idea what to expect from Mirage now. Anger? Disbelief... maybe rejection. Of him or of the idea of attempting a bond. 

"I am... different." In size and in color, Mirage's spark had been blue... his own was golden and silver and white and even black.

"Oh, Unicron..." Mirage murmured, reaching for the fluttering spark. The colors were different, so very different, but they matched his lover precisely, and he could _feel_ the energies around him. "You're beautiful..." So beautiful, for all the differences, and Mirage simply wanted to embrace his lover, make himself a part of this large spark... and to make it part of him. Primus, how was that going to work? Mirage might had been afraid, but Unicron had never hurt him, and even standing here before his bare spark, there was no pain, no sense of danger.

"I don't know how to do this." Unicron's voice wavered a little, uncertainty a troubling feeling to him. How would they bond? How could they without his energy erasing the energy that was Mirage...

"It's not like I've ever bonded before myself..." Mirage answered, stroking the interior of the chamber for a bit and walking around the large spark. There wasn't much room, and he had to lean mostly against the wall to keep from sliding against, _into_ , Unicron's spark. Finally, he stopped and opened his chest once again. "We'll go slow. I'll stop it if I think I'm in danger..." If there was time, but that was why they would go slow... Mirage straightened, that one motion enough to bring them together.

Slow? No, it wasn't slow. It was... an intrusion, but a welcome one. Such a small one, Mirage wasn't... old, wasn't like him. He was fluttery, temporary in a way that he could barely comprehend. There was no stopping it though and Unicron felt fear.

It felt... it felt like coming home. Mirage meant to keep it slow, controlled, and he tried, he really did, but he wanted this- needed it, was _made_ for this connection with another mech, another being. He moaned, pressing himself up as much as he could, and let Unicron see his life. His short, mostly ordinary and mortal life...

Mirage disappeared in him, drowned just like Unicron had feared and he could do nothing to stop it! He held on to him, his memories, but that was all there was left. He could no longer feel the tiny pedes against the inner plating of his spark chamber... no touch at all. And still that tiny spark touch persisted, the memories... the mockary of a bond left from his devouring the one he loved...

Grief could not describe what Unicron was feeling, especially since both joy and pleasure were still there too.

There was blackness and nothing, and then there was a strange insectoid creature looking at him, and Mirage was just sure it was smiling, or would be if it could. It clicked and buzzed, the sound distinctly organic and no language he had ever heard, and yet he thought he understood.

' _Surprised. Hoped. Unexpected. Good for him,_ ' the tones seemed to be saying.

And Mirage realized he was nothing but a spark.

' _Waited so long. Hoped,_ ' the creature said again, holding up a crystal. A Corax crystal. ' _Join him? Be like him? Be his limit?_ ' it asked.

There was no indication of what would happen if Mirage chose not to be what this creature was asking- what he thought the creature was asking. He suspected he might be dead, or might be if he didn't agree, but that had no bearing on what he chose. Mirage, a floating spark, could not speak, and yet he tried anyway. ' _I love him. I have... already made this choice._ ' This must have been the creature, he thought, which had given Unicron the Corax initially...

' _Happy. Fulfilled. So tired..._ ' the creature answered, and then it thrust the Corax into Mirage-the-spark, and Mirage wasn't sure if he was overloading or offlining.

Unicron ordered Cyclonus to go... to run. He knew that the mech would have preferred to die with him but he had to take Mirage's friend away... the smaller space craft would not be fast enough on his own. 

He could still feel him!

As soon as they were gone he did what he hadn't done in eons, letting his form shift, break up and reform. The process was slow and painful, but eventually his true optics flickered online and Unicron stood among the stars in his true form. 

It was to say goodbye.

Everything was blackness again, but there were pricks of light in it. And Unicron was there, against the darkness, looking at something away from him, something which cast his face into light. Mirage wanted nothing more than to embrace him, to go to him and kiss away the sorrow he saw. He wondered why Unicron was sad... The bonding had been a success, Mirage could feel that, feel his lover- his _mate_ , down in his very spark.

So why was Unicron so sad?

Coming out of alternate form was different, but Mirage didn't even wonder when he had entered it. He just wanted Unicron... ~Uni...!~

~Mirage...~ How could he still hear him? Unicron felt like screaming, doing something to get rid of the pain, even knowing it would be useless. There was no sound in space. Feel him, hear him... it was like his lover had been absorbed into his spark, become a literal part of it instead of them exchanging energy in a bond.

He would not condemn them both to such an existence. It was time to end it.

~Why are you so sad?~ Mirage asked, moving closer. He did not realize that he was not walking, that he was instead floating towards his lover, his beloved. ~Unicron... I'm right here. What's wrong?~ Using the bond was instinctive, as new as it was, but some part of Mirage knew that he was using it because his words would not be heard, could not be. ~...Though, now I wonder, where is 'here'? It's... like your holo-room...~

~It is not enough for you to live in my spark... with time you will dissipate and I will forget how to love.~ And he would become a monster, corax or not.

~This doesn't look like your spark. Or feel like it,~ Mirage answered, and then he finally started looking around. ~Looks more like space to me...~ Yes, very much like space, with stars all around him, and one much closer in roughly the direction than Unicron was facing. Was moving...

Mirage looked down and yelped silently, the strange 'conversation' he had had before this coming back. There was no floor below him... ~U- unicron...?~ Looking back at the shape of his mate, Mirage began to see the pits, the dings, little things that weren't there on the form he knew... ~I'm... seeing... _you_. Aren't I...?~

~Seeing... me?~ Unicron had been so focused on what he 'needed' to do that the statement... question made him pause uncertainly.

~Well of course I'm... But I'm seeing the real you, aren't I?~ Mirage was still trying to get to Unicron, needing to touch him.... It didn't matter if this was Unicron's true body, or all some messed up dream. He needed his Unicron, his mate... ~It said be like you...~ And that was scary, maybe, but everything would be just fine if he could hold Unicron in his arms again.

~You are in my spark... is it my memories, you mean?~ It was confusing to say the least, he held very few memories of seeing himself, his real self, and those were always distorted by the phenomena that had allowed him a reflection. He had stopped moving though.

~We are bonded. Of course I'm in your spark,~ Mirage said fondly, unsurprised that he had to explain this to Unicron on top of everything else. It was the way they were... ~But I am not seeing your memories... I'm seeing you. ...Look around. I'm right here...~ Unicron thought... But maybe that made sense, because Mirage was suddenly larger, and rather some distance from where he had been.

~Where?~ Unicron twisted, looking for something... anything. Mirage had disappeared from his spark chamber, how would it be possible for him to... to be out here, in space. 

It was Mirage. But it wasn't... the delicate being he had bonded was something else now. Bigger, much bigger and his alt mode was new too... also a planet? It _was_ Mirage. 

~Mirage?~

He smiled, in joy and relief, reaching for Unicron. He wanted to cup his face, touch him...

They were still just a little too far away for that. Mirage turned to words, then, still smiling. ~My love... You thought I was gone?~ It made sense, though, and Mirage only felt regret that he had scared Unicron so. ~I want to touch you... I've changed...?~ Unspoken was the question, 'Did Unicron still want him like this?' Mirage knew, rationally, that the other did, but he had changed so much...

~You disappeared... your touch disappeared from my spark chamber?~ How could it be? How could Mirage have become like him? 

~Yes... you have... you are beautiful.~ Pristine, new... different and yet the same. Mirage, his Mirage, still.

~I was... somewhere else. And an insect asked if I would join you... and then he... shoved a corax in me?~ Already, Mirage's memories of that indistinct forever were fading. He realized suddenly that he was touching atmosphere, and then, so _slowly_ , he came in contact with Unicron. ~You're really... here. I'm really here...~

~You _are_ really here.~ Unicron wasn't really listening, he was reveling in touching... in reality. Oh, he hoped it was reality! Mirage, his beautiful delicate little lover. Still smaller than him, as his former self had been to Unicron's avatar, but here in his arms... his real arms!

~You are real...~

Gravity itself pulled them together as much as their own efforts, and soon enough Mirage was pulling Unicron down for a kiss. He wasn't quite ready to think, too hard, about what he had become or how... Right now he only wanted to re-affirm that he was with his beloved, his mate. There would be time enough for thought...

But before he was too lost in pleasure, the no-longer-Autobot had to ask, ~Cosmos, and Cyclonus. Where... are they?~ He couldn't see them, couldn't find them on scanners...

~I told them to run.~ Unicron was not concerned about them, Cyclonus would get the small green thief to safety. They could find them later. 

~Let me see you again.~ His own never used chest clasps clicked open and his chest started to part. He wanted all of it, but this first. This, because it would show if this was really... real. Not just a fantasy or a dream...

With that dealt with, Mirage could give himself permission not to worry, to just enjoy... He opened as well, watching Unicron expose himself... and gasped a little, brining his hand up to touch the spark chamber as soon as he could. ~I was... _in_ there. Not a bream ago...~ and now it seemed the size of any other mech's, to his new form. Mirage looked up to meet Unicron's gaze again.

~Your spark is no longer blue.~ It still had blue in it, but silver was predominant and both gold, white and black threaded though it. ~Y-yes... you were in me and then you were gone. I thought my spark had devoured you.~ Like he had devoured worlds.

He looked at himself, and then smiled. ~They... match us. We're each- I mean, our sparks are... our colors...~ That didn't say much about why, though... Mirage thought he probably was not a mech any more, but again, he didn't think too hard about it. ~You've got my blue in you...~ And he didn't care. He wanted... ~Let me feel you, beloved. Feel me, and know that it's safe. I'm here... and we will never be parted.~

What to expect? Unicron pulled the smaller mech 'up', closer... pressed them together like he had sometimes read it was done. Spark bonding, no, merging, the bond was already in place. It was nothing like before... Mirage melted into him, his life still short and 'small' but his spark was felt now, of equal power to his own, if not of equal age.

It felt as though he could stay here for vorns... And if he was of a kind with Unicron, they probably could. The idea was 'there', but unacknowledged for now. The pleasure made it hard to really think about anything else. ~I'm here. I'm yours...~ And then, right against Unicron, nuzzling into his neck, Mirage spoke, the thin, clinging atmosphere carrying his words the short distance to Unicron's audio, "I love you. I always will."

~Mine~ Unicron didn't even try to speak the word out loud, but he relished in its meaning. In holding Mirage so close, inside and outside, in feeling him with no fear in the way. Mirage was like him now, he should feel guilt, for having taken the other from his life... but his mate was so happy that it was impossible to feel such a thing.

~Yours...~ Mirage affirmed, as close as he could get to his lover. He did not, and would not, mourn the life he had left, though he did hope he could explain to his friends. Even if he didn't... He had Unicron. That was enough for him, would always be enough...

Especially if the overloads were as good as this one was already promising to be.

~Yours?~ He wanted it to go both ways... that was how it should be. Like a spark bond went both ways, the participants giving and receiving all that was them and all that was their mate. Pleasure, life and memories... even those that he would have preferred to never remember again. Mirage had wanted all of him though, so he would not hold back on himself or their pleasure.

Unicron was old, and had indeed been a monster at one point... Mirage kissed him again, finding it almost surprisingly easy to accept his past now. Part of that was because it was so _firmly_ in the past, so alien now to them both.

~Yes, Unicron...~ Mirage answered. ~You are mine. My mate, my beloved... Mine!~

~That is all we need.~ At least for now. Maybe they could find a way to be more in the future, but for now, for now he would be happy with his mate. A mate, love... it would last him a very long time before he would even want to think of reaching for more.

~Yes. All we need...~ In the merge, so close to Unicron, Mirage could see the endless eons stretching out before them. He would live them all, with Unicron beside them, and they would orbit each other when there was nothing else to be found.

And their overload heralded the start of their new life.

[Mirage's Alt Form](http://nnoca.deviantart.com/art/Moon-Mirage-263394779)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some quick answers for things we weren't able to touch on. Mirage is a moon. He did see the avatar's alt, but we didn't, sorry. He has a garden on him somewhere. He still has his mod. The insect was one of the aliens that 'cursed' Unicron, a spirit watcher waiting around to be sure of any mate Uni took. Mirage -would- have died if he hadn't agreed, I think. Mirage told his friends what happened. The corax on earth is still there, happily growing, and disconnected from Unicron now. ...I think that covers it?


End file.
